excruciating

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

excruciating
    adj 1: extremely painful [syn: {agonizing}, {agonising},
           {excruciating}, {harrowing}, {torturing}, {torturous},
           {torturesome}]

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Excruciate \Ex*cru"ci*ate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Excruciated};
   p. pr. & vb. n. {Excruciating}.]
   To inflict agonizing pain upon; to torture; to torment
   greatly; to rack; as, to excruciate the heart or the body.
   [1913 Webster]

         Their thoughts, like devils, them excruciate.
                                                  --Drayton.
   [1913 Webster]

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Excruciating \Ex*cru"ci*a`ting\
   Torturing; racking. "Excruciating pain." --V. Knox.
   "Excruciating fears." --Bentley -- {Ex*cru"ci*a`ting*ly},
   adv.
   [1913 Webster]

from Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

50 Moby Thesaurus words for "excruciating":
      acute, afflictive, agonizing, atrocious, biting, consuming,
      cramping, cruel, desolating, distressful, distressing, exquisite,
      extreme, gnawing, grave, griping, hard, harrowing, harsh,
      heartbreaking, heartrending, heartsickening, heartwounding,
      hurtful, hurting, insufferable, intense, keen, painful, paroxysmal,
      piercing, poignant, pungent, racking, rending, severe, sharp,
      shooting, spasmatic, spasmic, spasmodic, stabbing, stinging,
      tearing, tormenting, torturing, torturous, unbearable, unendurable,
      vivid

[email protected]