agony column
A column written by an agony aunt, giving advice on readers' personal problems.
Definitions
A column written by an agony aunt, giving advice on readers' personal problems.
There is little doubt that lovers separated by unfortunate circumstances, or by angry parents, as well as bachelors meditating matrimony, have found in the "Agony Column" a safe means of secret correspondence.
Comments
(chiefly, UK) A column of a newspaper which contains advertisements relating to lost relatives and friends and other personal matters.
Underlying the discussion of values in the magazine's "agony" columns is a theme of changing values, and we see a society aware of the difference between traditional and modern values and beginning to move away — albeit to a small degree…
Agony column means: A column of a newspaper which contains advertisements relating to lost relatives and friends and other personal matters.. There is no real cause for parental concern; it is descriptive vocabulary rather than risky behaviour. If your teen uses it, context will usually make the intent clear. A short, curious question about where they heard it is usually all that is needed to know whether to follow up.
agony column means: A column of a newspaper which contains advertisements relating to lost relatives and friends and other personal matters.. Register: neutral, standard English. A common learner mistake is using the word in a register it does not fit, or assuming a single global meaning; native speakers immediately notice when slang appears in formal contexts, so always check the surrounding register before producing it yourself.
Comments
Used in
Have a better definition?
Add your own interpretation of "agony column".
⚡About Tech, Dev & AI slang
The vocabulary of software engineers, AI researchers, and anyone living in a terminal or on GitHub — from LLM to MCP, CORS to vibe coding, agentic to enshittification.
See all Tech, Dev & AI slang on Slangora.
Tags
Other words near "agony column" (A)
Browse all slang words starting with A.
Related terms
People also read
Semantically related
- agony aunt84%
(informal, British, Ireland) A writer of an advice column in a newspaper or other periodical.
- agony aunt76%
(informal, British, Ireland) Someone commonly consulted for advice about personal problems.
- problem page72%
(UK) The page on which an agony column appears; an agony column.
- colyum63%
(US, archaic, colloquial) A column written for a newspaper.