anguish

n. agony, torment; anxiety, fear

v. suffer; be tormented

Anguish is a term used in contemporary philosophy, often as a translation from the Dutch angst, meaning "dread". It is a paramount feature of  existentialist philosophy, in which anguish is often understood as the experience of an utterly free being in a world with zero absolutes (existential despair). In the theology of Kierkegaard, it refers to a being with total free will who is in a constant state of spiritual fear that his free will leads him to fall short of the standards that God has laid for him. In the teachings of Sartre, anguish is seen when an utterly free beings realizes the unpredictability of his or her action. For example, when walking along a cliff, you would feel anguish to know that you have the freedom to throw yourself down to your imminent death.
See more at Wikipedia.org...

Noun
1. extreme mental distress
(synonym) torment, torture
(hypernym) distress, hurt, suffering
2. extreme distress of body or mind
(hypernym) distress
(derivation) pain, hurt
Verb
1. suffer great pains or distress
(hypernym) suffer
(derivation) torment, torture
2. cause emotional anguish or make miserable; "It pains me to see my children not being taught well in school"
(synonym) pain, hurt
(hypernym) upset, discompose, untune, disconcert, discomfit
(hyponym) agonize, agonise
(cause) suffer

(v. t.)
To distress with extreme pain or grief.
  

(n.)
Extreme pain, either of body or mind; excruciating distress.
  

[Arthurian] King of Ireland and father to Iseult, beloved of Tristan. Demanding tribute from Cornwall, Anguish sends his brother-in-law, Morholt, to enforce the tribute in single combat with the Cornish champion (Celtic tribes often settled disputes by a battle of champions rather than field combat. In fact, they extol it's virtues in works such as the Tain bo Culainge). Accepting the challenge, Tristan slays Morhalt. Anguish is Angus or Aengus in Irish. A King Angus ruled in Munster towards the end of the fifth century. Emigrants from this part of Eire had been settling and founding colonies in Wales and southwest England and this may be the root of the tribute story- an attempt by the Irish for regional dominance.