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
Track maintenance will then harrow the track to release the compactness and return it to its regular consistency for racing.
—Los Angeles Times, 28 Dec. 2021
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
Track maintenance will then harrow the track to release the compactness and return it to its regular consistency for racing.
—Los Angeles Times, 28 Dec. 2021
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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Mohammad Omar had been plagued with medical problems since birth.—
Li-Lian Ahlskog Hou,
CNN Money,
22 July 2025
-
That’s the kind of problem that leads to the rodent Rose Parade that’s plagued other restaurants on this street.—
David J. Neal,
Miami Herald,
21 July 2025
Verb
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The price transparency problem afflicting hospitals exemplifies the problem.—
Wayne Winegarden,
Forbes.com,
22 July 2025
-
Her brother Aaron, afflicted with the same condition, had passed away in 2019.—
David Epstein,
ProPublica,
18 July 2025
Verb
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On the other hand, there’s room in America for Afrikaners from South Africa, the white minority of Dutch origin who claim they are being persecuted and subject to violence inflicted by the majority Black population.—
Howard Simon,
The Orlando Sentinel,
15 July 2025
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We have been persecuted, exiled, shunned and murdered, simply for our beliefs.—
Jessica Tzikas,
Sun Sentinel,
10 July 2025
Verb
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Luis Leon, who received political asylum in the United States in 1987 after being tortured under Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet's regime, misplaced his wallet that held his legal residency card, according to Allentown, Pennsylvania, newspaper The Morning Call.—
Billal Rahman,
MSNBC Newsweek,
21 July 2025
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Editor’s Pick From assassination plots to torture programs, the agency’s darkest operations have always been at the President’s behest.—
Kyle Chayka,
New Yorker,
16 July 2025
Verb
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Each night, mysterious visitors torment Ahmed, whispering litanies in an incomprehensible language.—
Leo Barraclough,
Variety,
23 July 2025
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The original 1997 movie followed the two characters — then teenagers — as well as character portrayed by Ryan Phillippe and Prinze's wife Sarah Michelle Gellar, who are each tormented by the film's slasher-style fisherman villain one year after covering up a deadly car accident.—
Tommy McArdle,
People.com,
22 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Harrow.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/harrow. Accessed 29 Jul. 2025.
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