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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However, Paramount is grappling with the same issues that are plaguing other media giants.—
Brent Lang,
Variety,
27 Oct. 2025
-
Injuries plagued Los Angeles all season.—
Shaun McAvoy,
MSNBC Newsweek,
27 Oct. 2025
Verb
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For now, Poulsen is much more worried about how the nation’s poultry and dairy agriculture systems will withstand the virus continuing to afflict the animals these industries rely on.—
Meghan Bartels,
Scientific American,
24 Oct. 2025
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Even though this can afflict regular sandwiches as well, my Picklewiches definitely suffered from it more.—
Caroline Tien,
SELF,
24 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Create Abundance's lawyer in Canada, Brian Vickers, said that the two companies Li directed were not connected to the group and that it was being wrongfully persecuted.—
Didi Kirsten Tatlow,
MSNBC Newsweek,
24 Oct. 2025
-
In Nazi Germany, transgender people were persecuted, barred from public life.—
Jackson Thompson,
FOXNews.com,
23 Oct. 2025
Verb
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In another film with a less happy outcome, the woman who claims to be the amnesiac’s wife is an impostor who ends up torturing him.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
24 Oct. 2025
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Khaled was briefly transferred to Ofer Prison, where Adnan al-Bursh, an orthopedic surgeon who once led Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital, had died in 2024, after being tortured.—
Mosab Abu Toha,
New Yorker,
24 Oct. 2025
Verb
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In southern India, Diwali celebrates the victory of Lord Krishna’s destruction of the demon Naraka who is said to have imprisoned women and tormented his subjects.—
Deepa Bharath,
Twin Cities,
20 Oct. 2025
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The loss continues to torment Amelia, and 6-year-old Samuel (Noah Wiseman) turns to a children's pop-up book, Mister Babadook, for macabre comfort.—
Steven Thrash,
Entertainment Weekly,
19 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Harrow.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/harrow. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.
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