agony column

plural agony columns

1. UKuncommonSynonym of personal column, a column in a newspaper or other periodical of personal advertisements.First known use 1854

   There is little doubt that lovers separated by unfortunate circumstances, or by angry parents, as well as bachelors meditating matrimony, have found in the "Agony Column" a safe means of secret correspondence.

   1881, Alice Clay, editor, The Agony Column of the "Times" 1800-1870, page vi

   Synonyms: personal column

2. UKSynonym of advice column, a column in a newspaper or other periodical providing advice on readers' problems.

   DCI Tom Barnaby: She was nervous about something... So what sort of agony column does she write, Troy? DS Gavin Troy: I've only glanced at it, sir. It's just problems.

   1999 February 3, Anthony Horowitz, “Strangler's Wood”, in Midsomer Murders

   1 more example

   Underlying the discussion of values in the magazine's "agony" columns is a theme of changing values, and we see a society aware of the difference between traditional and modern values and beginning to move away — albeit to a small degree — from traditional attitudes and behaviour.

   2005, Tim Lindsey, Chinese Indonesians: Remembering, Distorting, Forgetting, page 165

   Synonyms: advice column