What does suffering mean?

Definitions for suffering
ˈsʌf ər ɪŋ, ˈsʌf rɪŋsuf·fer·ing

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word suffering.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. agony, suffering, excruciationnoun

    a state of acute pain

  2. suffering, woenoun

    misery resulting from affliction

  3. distress, hurt, sufferingnoun

    psychological suffering

    "the death of his wife caused him great distress"

  4. suffering, hurtadjective

    feelings of mental or physical pain

  5. sufferingadjective

    troubled by pain or loss

    "suffering refugees"

  6. miserable, suffering, wretchedadjective

    very unhappy; full of misery

    "he felt depressed and miserable"; "a message of hope for suffering humanity"; "wretched prisoners huddled in stinking cages"

Wiktionary

  1. sufferingnoun

    The condition of someone who suffers; a state of pain or distress.

  2. sufferingadjective

    Experiencing pain.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Sufferingnoun

    Pain suffered.

    Etymology: from suffer.

    Rejoice in my sufferings for you. Col. i. 24.

    With what strength, what steadiness of mind,
    He triumphs in the midst of all his sufferings? Addison.

    We may hope the sufferings of innocent people, who have lived in that place which was the scene of rebellion, will secure from the like attempts. Addison.

    It increased the smart of his present sufferings to compare them with his former happiness. Francis Atterbury.

Wikipedia

  1. Suffering

    Suffering, or pain in a broad sense, may be an experience of unpleasantness or aversion, possibly associated with the perception of harm or threat of harm in an individual. Suffering is the basic element that makes up the negative valence of affective phenomena. The opposite of suffering is pleasure or happiness. Suffering is often categorized as physical or mental. It may come in all degrees of intensity, from mild to intolerable. Factors of duration and frequency of occurrence usually compound that of intensity. Attitudes toward suffering may vary widely, in the sufferer or other people, according to how much it is regarded as avoidable or unavoidable, useful or useless, deserved or undeserved. Suffering occurs in the lives of sentient beings in numerous manners, often dramatically. As a result, many fields of human activity are concerned with some aspects of suffering. These aspects may include the nature of suffering, its processes, its origin and causes, its meaning and significance, its related personal, social, and cultural behaviors, its remedies, management, and uses.

ChatGPT

  1. suffering

    Suffering is the state or experience of enduring physical or psychological pain, distress, hardship, or discomfort. It can be caused by various factors such as illness, loss, or misfortune, and can be either long-term or short-term. Suffering is subjective and its intensity can vary depending on the individual's resilience, perception, and circumstances.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Suffering

    of Suffer

  2. Sufferingnoun

    the bearing of pain, inconvenience, or loss; pain endured; distress, loss, or injury incurred; as, sufferings by pain or sorrow; sufferings by want or by wrongs

  3. Sufferingadjective

    being in pain or grief; having loss, injury, distress, etc

Wikidata

  1. Suffering

    Suffering, or pain in a broad sense, is an experience of unpleasantness and aversion associated with the perception of harm or threat of harm in an individual. Suffering is the basic element that makes up the negative valence of affective phenomena. Suffering may be qualified as physical or mental. It may come in all degrees of intensity, from mild to intolerable. Factors of duration and frequency of occurrence usually compound that of intensity. Attitudes toward suffering may vary widely, in the sufferer or other people, according to how much it is regarded as avoidable or unavoidable, useful or useless, deserved or undeserved. Suffering occurs in the lives of sentient beings in numerous manners, and often dramatically. As a result, many fields of human activity are concerned, from their own points of view, with some aspects of suffering. These aspects may include the nature of suffering, its processes, its origin and causes, its meaning and significance, its related personal, social, and cultural behaviors, its remedies, management, and uses.

Matched Categories

British National Corpus

  1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'suffering' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #3660

  2. Written Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'suffering' in Written Corpus Frequency: #4126

  3. Nouns Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'suffering' in Nouns Frequency: #2392

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

How to pronounce suffering?

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of suffering in Chaldean Numerology is: 5

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of suffering in Pythagorean Numerology is: 6

Examples of suffering in a Sentence

  1. Helen Keller:

    Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.

  2. Richard Dawkins:

    Nature is not cruel, pitilessly, indifferent. This is one of the hardest lessons for humans to learn. We cannot admit that things might be neither good nor evil, neither cruel nor kind, but simply callous -- indifferent to all suffering, lacking all purpose.

  3. Matt Diaz:

    I don't feel like we should be leveraging our customers for financial aid while they are also suffering from the effects of this pandemic, we will now have to explain to our customers why we are charging them more, and even risk alienating them.

  4. Jimmy Carter:

    We deal with individual people in the smallest and most obscure and suffering villages in the desert and in the jungles of Africa, and we've had programs in 80 different countries on the Earth for the poorest and most destitute people in the world, and that has been, I'd say, far more gratifying personally because we actually interact with families and with people.

  5. Ashraf Ghani:

    The enemy is suffering heavy casualties from air strikes.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

suffering#1#5907#10000

Translations for suffering

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"suffering." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 14 Oct. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/suffering>.

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