Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

agony aunt

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: 3.49 in modern English

Syllables: agony aunt
IPA

13

Scrabble Score

9

Letters

1

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

Synonym of advice columnist, a writer of an advice column in a newspaper or other periodical, especially an actually or assumed female writer of such a column.

British usage; Informal

noun

Someone commonly consulted for advice about personal problems.

British usage; Informal

Example Sentences

"You should write in to the agony aunt; she'll sort it out for you."
"Pandora has just left my bedroom. I am just about devastated with frustration. I can't go on like this. I have written to Aunt Clara, the Agony Aunt."
"Yes, I have an agony aunt for a wife and an uncle for an employer. I'm well looked after."
"The big difference between agony aunts then and today is that now we have the internet to answer those tricky problems about how to eat an avocado pear (a lot of letters in the 70s were avocado-related)[…]"
"I'm sick of everyone coming to me with their problems—I never wanted to be an agony aunt!"

Etymology

From the much earlier British term agony column, initially used for personal columns and then for advice columns, and the informal use of aunt for any older female fictive kin.

Usage

British usage
Informal

Inflected Forms

agony aunts (plural) agony aunty (alternative) agony auntie (alternative)

Frequently Paired Words

agony uncle

Synonyms

advice columnist

Questions

What does agony aunt mean?: Synonym of advice columnist, a writer of an advice column in a newspaper or other periodical, especially an actually or assumed female writer of such a column.
Where does agony aunt come from?: From the much earlier British term agony column, initially used for personal columns and then for advice columns, and the informal use of aunt for any older female fictive kin.

How to pronounce agony aunt

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