Basic Details
Word: Suffering
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Pain, illness, sadness or hardship that a person or animal goes through. As a verb form, suffering means going through such pain.
Synonyms: pain, misery, distress, hardship
Antonyms: comfort, relief, happiness
How to Spell Suffering
Syllables: suf - fer - ing
Tricky part: Two f's and one r: suffer + ing. Students often write sufering or sufferring.
Watch out for: sufering, sufferring, sufferinng
Memory tip: Picture the double f as two crutches holding someone up while they are suffering.
Usage Examples
Example 1: The doctors worked through the night to ease the patients' suffering.
Example 2: Reading about the suffering caused by the famine made the class silent.
Example 3: She is still suffering from a bad cough after the trip.
Fun Fact
In Buddhism, the first of the Four Noble Truths taught by the Buddha is that life involves suffering, called dukkha in Pali.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word suffering as it is used in the sentence:
The new hospital in the district eased the suffering of thousands of villagers.
a) misery
b) agony
c) pain
d) comfort
Show answer
d) comfort. A hospital takes away pain and gives comfort, so comfort is the word that is opposite to suffering.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
The vet said the injured stray was sufering from a broken leg, so the children carried it gently to the clinic in a basket.
a) injured
b) basket
c) clinic
d) sufering
Show answer
d) sufering. Suffer keeps both of its f's when ing is added.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence to form a meaningful word:
Long queues outside the ration shop added to the villagers' grufsfeni in the heat.
a) buffering
b) snuffing
c) suffering
d) surfing
Show answer
c) suffering. Buffering starts with b, and surfing and snuffing have too few letters for this nine-letter jumble.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which of these would relieve suffering?
a) a missed bus
b) a broken umbrella
c) medicine for a fever
d) a burnt roti
Show answer
c) medicine for a fever
2. In which sentence is suffering a noun?
a) Their suffering ended when the rains came.
b) She is suffering from a cold.
c) The crops are suffering in the heat.
d) He was suffering in silence.
Show answer
a) Their suffering ended when the rains came.
