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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

harrowing.

Causing pain or distress; harrying.

9 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈhæɹəʊ.ɪŋ/Received-Pronunciation
  1. Causing pain or distress; harrying.

    formal
Where this word comes from

By surface analysis, harrow + -ing.

noun/ˈhæɹəʊ.ɪŋ/Received-Pronunciation
  1. The process of breaking up earth with a harrow.

    The field received two harrowings.
  2. Suffering, torment.

  3. Ravaging; hostile incursion; spoliation; intentional widespread destruction.

  4. Ravaging; hostile incursion; spoliation; intentional widespread destruction. Christ's ravaging or hostile incursion of Hell, conducted between his crucifixion and resurrection, in which he liberated the souls of the righteous held captive by Satan.

Where this word comes from

By surface analysis, harrow + -ing.

verb/ˈhæɹəʊ.ɪŋ/Received-Pronunciation
  1. present participle and gerund of harrow.

    form-of · gerund · participle · present
Where this word comes from

By surface analysis, harrow + -ing.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.