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Burden vs Agony - What's the difference?

burden | agony |

As nouns the difference between burden and agony

is that burden is a heavy load while agony is violent contest or striving.

As a verb burden

is to encumber with a burden (in any of the noun senses of the word).

burden

English

(wikipedia burden)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) burden, birden, burthen, birthen, byrthen, from (etyl) byrden, .

Alternative forms

* burthen (archaic)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A heavy load.
  • * 1898 , , (Moonfleet) Chapter 4
  • There were four or five men in the vault already, and I could hear more coming down the passage, and guessed from their heavy footsteps that they were carrying burdens .
  • A responsibility, onus.
  • A cause of worry; that which is grievous, wearisome, or oppressive.
  • * Jonathan Swift
  • Deaf, giddy, helpless, left alone, / To all my friends a burden grown.
  • The capacity of a vessel, or the weight of cargo that she will carry.
  • a ship of a hundred tons burden
  • (mining) The tops or heads of stream-work which lie over the stream of tin.
  • (metalworking) The proportion of ore and flux to fuel, in the charge of a blast furnace.
  • (Raymond)
  • A fixed quantity of certain commodities.
  • A burden of gad steel is 120 pounds.
  • (obsolete, rare) A birth.
  • That bore thee at a burden two fair sons

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To encumber with a burden (in any of the noun senses of the word ).
  • to burden a nation with taxes
  • * Bible, 2 Corinthians viii. 13
  • I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened .
  • * Shakespeare
  • My burdened heart would break.
  • To impose, as a load or burden; to lay or place as a burden (something heavy or objectionable).
  • * Coleridge
  • It is absurd to burden this act on Cromwell.
    Derived terms
    * burdensome * beast of burden

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) bordon. See bourdon.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (music) A phrase or theme that recurs at the end of each verse in a folk song or ballad.
  • * 1610 , , act 1 scene 2
  • [...] Foot it featly here and there; / And, sweet sprites, the burden bear.
  • * 1846 ,
  • As commonly used, the refrain, or burden , not only is limited to lyric verse, but depends for its impression upon the force of monotone - both in sound and thought.
  • The drone of a bagpipe.
  • (Ruddiman)
  • (obsolete) Theme, core idea.
  • Anagrams

    *

    agony

    English

    Noun

    (agonies)
  • Violent contest or striving.
  • The world is convulsed by the agonies of great nations. —.
  • Pain so extreme as to cause writhing or contortions of the body, similar to those made in the athletic contests in Greece; and hence, extreme pain of mind or body; anguish; paroxysm of grief; specifically, the sufferings of Christ in the garden of Gethsemane.
  • Being in an agony he prayed more earnestly. —Luke xxii. 44.
  • Paroxysm of joy; keen emotion.
  • With cries and agonies of wild delight. —.
  • The last struggle of life; death struggle.
  • Synonyms

    * anguish, torment, throe, distress, pang, suffering * See also

    Antonyms

    * (extreme pain) ecstasy