“Agonizing” or “Agonising”—What's the difference?

Usage by country

Where each spelling is used

Of the 12 countries below, 4 prefer “agonizing” and 4 prefer “agonising”. Usage levels are out of 100; the more common spelling in each country is in bold.

Usage level out of 100 (if available).
Country	agonizing	agonising	Preference
United States	97	3	“agonizing”
United Kingdom	22	78	“agonising”
India	66	34	“agonizing”
Philippines	94	6	“agonizing”
Canada	91	9	“agonizing”
Australia	34	66	“agonising”
Liberia	0	0	Not enough data
Ireland	0	100	“agonising”
New Zealand	39	61	“agonising”
Jamaica	0	0	Not enough data
Trinidad & Tobago	0	0	Not enough data
Guyana	0	0	Not enough data

Usage

Examples in context

Real sentences for each spelling. Hover an example to copy it.

“agonizing”

After tackling enormous agonizing problems in giving up his…
…offers some insight into the agonizing dilemma of a misguided, courageous…
…this late-season performance as an "agonizing roller coaster ride" for Mets
…in a few hours of agonizing pain for the victim.
…a nightmare are: “Intense or agonizing dread; the sense of oppression…
…on trial, sentenced to an agonizing death if they were complicit…
An agonizing final 25 minutes saw six…
…helplessness, but the intense or agonizing dread is a characteristic of…
…student was alarmed by the agonizing screams of his teacher.
…his side which has an agonizing hunger for raw meat which…

“agonising”

…Jews are faced with the agonising dilemma between siding with the…
…saw the character of Bradley agonising over his sexuality and eventually…
…boat into fourth place, an agonising 0.7 points off a medal.
…to express his deepest, almost agonising feelings: not really concerned if…
Wehler, Hans-Ulrich "The Goldhagen Controversy: Agonising Problems, Scholarly Failure, and the…
Gray is often incapacitated with agonising migraines due to a general…
Difficult and agonising judgments have to be made…
…chain, where the chairman is agonising over an oncoming takeover.
…could die a slow and agonising death from flystrike".
…episode which would leave an "agonising" three-week wait to see if…

Examples are Wikipedia snippets under the CC ShareAlike 3.0 license.

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