anguish

Compared meaning: great suffering or torment (noun).

比较义项：极大的痛苦、折磨（名词）。

• torment

  Torment stresses continuous or repeated suffering, often inflicted by an external cause (pain, noise, guilt) that keeps troubling someone; frequently used as 'a torment' for the source of suffering itself.

  torment强调持续或反复出现的痛苦，往往由某种外部原因（疼痛、噪音、内疚等）不断折磨着某人；常用“a torment”指代造成痛苦的根源本身。

  Years of chronic back pain were a constant torment for her.

  多年的慢性背痛一直是她持续的折磨。

• anguish 本词

  Anguish denotes intense, often sudden mental or emotional pain, typically triggered by grief, loss, or shocking news; it is usually uncountable and paired with adjectives like 'deep' or 'great'.

  anguish指强烈且常常突然产生的精神或情感上的痛苦，通常由悲伤、丧失或令人震惊的消息引发；一般作不可数名词使用，常与“deep”“great”等形容词搭配。

  He couldn't hide his anguish when he heard about the accident.

  听到那场事故的消息时，他无法掩饰内心的痛苦。

Torment and anguish both mean great suffering. Torment stresses continuous or repeated suffering, often caused by something that keeps troubling someone, like pain, noise, or guilt. Anguish means intense, often sudden mental or emotional pain, usually from grief, loss, or shocking news, and is uncountable.

这两个词都表示极大的痛苦，但语气不同：torment强调持续、反复的折磨，往往由某种外部原因不断困扰某人；anguish强调突然而强烈的精神或情感痛苦，多因悲伤或噩耗而生。

Compared meaning: to cause emotional suffering (verb).

比较义项：使人痛苦、伤心（动词）。

• pain

  Formal or literary; used to say something causes sadness or distress, often in a pattern like 'it pains someone to...'. Milder and more restrained than anguish, and less common in everyday speech than hurt.

  较为正式或书面化，常用来表示某事令人感到悲伤或痛苦；语气比anguish克制，也不像hurt那样常用于日常口语。

  It pained her to watch her once-proud father need help with simple tasks.

  看着曾经骄傲的父亲连简单的事都需要人帮忙，这让她感到很痛心。

• hurt

  The everyday, most common choice; describes causing emotional pain, especially through words, actions or rejection, often between people who are close. Neutral in register and used constantly in daily conversation.

  日常生活中最常用的词，指用言语、行为或冷落等方式使人（尤其是亲近的人）感到伤心；语气中性，在口语中使用频率很高。

  His careless remark about her weight really hurt her feelings.

  他关于她体重的那句随口评论，真的伤了她的心。

• anguish 本词

  Rare and literary; means to cause intense, prolonged mental suffering, usually from fear, grief or uncertainty. Stronger than pain or hurt, and mostly used in serious or dramatic writing.

  较为少见、文学化的词，指使人感到强烈而持续的精神痛苦，多源于恐惧、悲伤或不确定感；程度比pain和hurt都更强，多用于较严肃或戏剧化的语境。

  Not knowing whether her missing son was alive anguished her every single night.

  不知道失踪的儿子是否还活着，这件事让她每晚都痛苦不堪。

Pain, hurt, and anguish all mean causing emotional suffering. Pain is formal and literary, milder. Hurt is the everyday word, for pain from words, actions, or rejection. Anguish is rare and literary, meaning intense suffering from grief or fear. Hurt means physical injury, not compared.

这三个词都可以表示“使某人感到痛苦或伤心”，但语气和正式程度不同：hurt最常用于日常口语，pain和anguish更书面、更文学化，anguish程度也最强，多指长期或强烈的精神煎熬。此外，hurt更常见的义项是“（身体）受伤”，这里不比较该义项。