harrowing
adjective
har·row·ing
ˈher-ə-wiŋ 
ˈha-rə-
: acutely distressing or painful
a harrowing experience
Mr. Wu's work in a coal mine was particularly harrowing.—
Charles Horner
Charles Horner
harrowingly
adverb
Examples of harrowing in a Sentence
a harrowing portrayal of the ravages of war
the harrowing amputations without any anesthetic that soldiers and sailors once were forced to endure
Recent Examples on the Web
And Gerrad chats with The Lost Bus star America Ferrera about the harrowing true story, about the bus driver and teacher who were trapped with 22 students during California's devastating 2018 Camp Fire.
—Gerrad Hall, Entertainment Weekly, 30 Dec. 2025
Your dial gets to 10 with an incredible harrowing scream.
—David Canfield, HollywoodReporter, 29 Dec. 2025
The show is set in three timelines, and follows a medical student named Dorrigo Evans (Jacob Elordi), who marries Ella (Olivia DeJonge) but then has a destructive affair with his uncle’s wife, Amy (Odessa Young), before a harrowing stint in a Japanese POW camp in then-Indochina.
—David Faris, TheWeek, 29 Dec. 2025
After a harrowing and deadly Christmas Eve in California with rescues and evacuations amid widespread flooding and debris flow threats, another storm is battering the state Christmas Day, with more expected into Friday.
—Andrew Freedman, CNN Money, 25 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for harrowing
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Gerrad Hall, Entertainment Weekly, 30 Dec. 2025
Your dial gets to 10 with an incredible harrowing scream.
—David Canfield, HollywoodReporter, 29 Dec. 2025
The show is set in three timelines, and follows a medical student named Dorrigo Evans (Jacob Elordi), who marries Ella (Olivia DeJonge) but then has a destructive affair with his uncle’s wife, Amy (Odessa Young), before a harrowing stint in a Japanese POW camp in then-Indochina.
—David Faris, TheWeek, 29 Dec. 2025
After a harrowing and deadly Christmas Eve in California with rescues and evacuations amid widespread flooding and debris flow threats, another storm is battering the state Christmas Day, with more expected into Friday.
—Andrew Freedman, CNN Money, 25 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for harrowing
Cite this Entry
“Harrowing.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/harrowing. Accessed 5 Jan. 2026.
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