as in to plague
to cause persistent suffering to
the villagers were gaunt and sickly, harrowed by years of disease and starvation
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Recent Examples of harrow
Before the big race, the track was harrowed, bringing it to a better and drier racing surface.
—
John Cherwa,
Los Angeles Times,
7 June 2025
The research fellow who met me, Birte, was in her forties, and appeared as if she had been harrowed by her work.
—
John Ganz,
Harper's Magazine,
22 May 2024
Plus, Shin Ha-young is given little to do in the second half of the series despite her effortless shift from warm third wheel to harrowed and weary abuse victim.
—
Geoffrey Bunting,
Rolling Stone,
26 Oct. 2023
That same humble deity, in the course of putting on humanity, had obtained a glimpse of the conditions on earth—poverty, needless estrangement, a stubborn pattern of rich ruling over poor—and decided to incite a revolution that would harrow Hell.
—
Vinson Cunningham,
The New Yorker,
28 Dec. 2020
John Cherwa,
Los Angeles Times,
7 June 2025
The research fellow who met me, Birte, was in her forties, and appeared as if she had been harrowed by her work.
—
John Ganz,
Harper's Magazine,
22 May 2024
Plus, Shin Ha-young is given little to do in the second half of the series despite her effortless shift from warm third wheel to harrowed and weary abuse victim.
—
Geoffrey Bunting,
Rolling Stone,
26 Oct. 2023
That same humble deity, in the course of putting on humanity, had obtained a glimpse of the conditions on earth—poverty, needless estrangement, a stubborn pattern of rich ruling over poor—and decided to incite a revolution that would harrow Hell.
—
Vinson Cunningham,
The New Yorker,
28 Dec. 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for harrow
Verb
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Andrew Harnik | Getty Images A rocky start The anniversary rollout has also been plagued by problems on the ground.
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In the 30 years following the tune’s release, disappointment has only continued to plague the Three Lions.
Verb
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Jude, meanwhile, was shifting from tossing cones to tugging at his ears, afflicted with the same malady that had landed several of the toddlers on the room’s version of the injury list.
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Advertisement Mission hijacking in the nonprofit space A similar overcrowding afflicts the pro-democracy space today.
Verb
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The Washington Principles also recognize that many sales of artwork by Jews during the Nazi era occurred while they were being persecuted, or under duress.
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Representatives of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine have been persecuted.
Verb
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What unfolds is a unique horror story that is unbelievably entertaining, psychologically torturing and incredibly fun.
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The brutal nature of her murder—she was believed to have been tortured, and her body was cut in half and provocatively posed—helped spark a media frenzy.
Verb
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Tournament favorites France, for example, have so thoroughly taunted and tormented their opponents that anything short of the final would seem an injustice at this point.
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In that movie, Depp played a young woman who is tormented after vampire Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård) becomes obsessed with her.
Cite this Entry
“Harrow.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/harrow. Accessed 5 Jul. 2026.
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