agony column

A newspaper column containing advertisements chiefly about missing relatives or friends.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

agony column

1. (Journalism & Publishing) a magazine or newspaper feature in which advice is offered to readers who have sent in letters about their personal problems

2. (Journalism & Publishing) a part of a newspaper containing advertisements for lost relatives, personal messages, etc

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

agony column - a newspaper column devoted to personal problems

editorial, newspaper column, column - an article giving opinions or perspectives

Translations

lettere personali

agony column

n → posta del cuore

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

"Because there are many ciphers which I would read as easily as I do the apocrypha of the agony column: such crude devices amuse the intelligence without fatiguing it.

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I tossed the paper down upon the table, but at that moment my eye caught an advertisement in the agony column. It ran in this way:

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When you have agreed to our terms, insert a suitable notice in the agony column of the "Morning Blazer." We shall then acquaint you with our plan for transferring the sum mentioned.

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Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the mantelpiece.

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For now, the eight-time Baftawinner is happy to carry on presenting his popular Friday-night chat show and Saturday morning Radio 2 show - alongside his agony column in a national newspaper and, of course, writing novels, having already penned two memoirs as well.

I thought other writers would say: 'Oi! Clear off! Go and do your chat show!' As TV favourite Graham Norton becomes a fully-fledged member of the literary set, he tells HANNAH STEPHENSON about how his plotlines echo life's highs and lows

So we became like an agony column for a lot of them," said Almaeena.

Arab News at 42: Former editor Khaled Almaeena on the highs and lows of 'The Green Truth'

Honest John runs a regular agony column for motorists with car problems and knows first-hand from his mailbag of the kind of tribulations facing UK drivers.

It's chapter and worse; MAGGIE BARRY discovers how two top motoring writers have thrown the book at the cars they consider to be disasters on wheels

Tom's musical career took off with stints on keyboards with bands such as The Squares and Agony Column, followed by a successful run of gigs with Pinups, securing a deal with Pete Waterman and gaining a place on the Radio 1 playlist.

Return to folk roots is Bliss for Tom; Folk

"It was like an agony column, dear Albert, my souffles won't rise, what shall I do?" Disley illustrated the replies with his usual sense of humour, "visual gags, really".

Modest artist with an international reputation; the interview Philip Key talks to the local cartoonist who will turn his hand to anything

Miss Lonelyhearts explains to his fiancee, Betty, what effect the agony column has had on him.

The lessons of "Lonelyhearts"

"Share your weight dilemmas with me," says the headline on Anne's agony column.

Carole Malone column: Anne: A fat lot of good

Many moons ago, Dorothy Dix wrote an agony column in The Mirror.

The End: How to be a real woman