How to Use harrowing in a Sentence

harrowing

adjective
  • Goates, a mom of five, had the most harrowing tale of all.
    — Los Angeles Times, 1 Feb. 2022
  • By turns serene and harrowing, the West here brims with life.
    — Angelica Aboulhosn, Smithsonian Magazine, 14 Aug. 2023
  • The images bring to life a harrowing tale of abuse that has gripped the nation.
    — Karina Tsui, CNN Money, 1 Apr. 2025
  • Anyone who spends a lot of time on a bike has a harrowing tale to tell.
    — Gordon Monson, The Salt Lake Tribune, 30 May 2022
  • Many harrowing accounts have emerged in the days since the attack.
    — Michael Schwirtz, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2024
  • Her back and legs were bruised from the harrowing escape.
    — Jack Healy, New York Times, 30 Sep. 2022
  • In a harrowing 911 call, his wife can be heard begging for help.
    — Rebecca Rosenberg, Fox News, 5 Aug. 2023
  • But the most harrowing case to date is when MPU must band together in a race to find one of their own.
    — Denise Petski, Deadline, 4 Feb. 2025
  • Tran told a harrowing tale of her immigration to the U.S. in 1986.
    — Judy Bart Kancigor, Orange County Register, 25 Feb. 2024
  • The details that have come to light in recent weeks are harrowing.
    — Julyssa Lopez, Rolling Stone, 27 June 2022
  • We are left with Auschwitz’s harrowing legacy and reminded of the full extent of the crimes of Nazism.
    — Armani Syed, TIME, 12 Jan. 2024
  • Yeon-hui is a person who has to face her harrowing trauma and go right to the center of it all.
    — Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 21 Mar. 2025
  • So why does Ifrah want Maryland to go down the harrowing road of iGaming?
    — Mark Stewart, Baltimore Sun, 5 May 2025
  • But even in the best of the circumstances, the next several months might be harrowing.
    — Justin Lahart, WSJ, 28 July 2022
  • Video taken from the beach showed the harrowing moments the small plane glided onto the shore.
    — Orlando Mayorquin, USA TODAY, 20 Mar. 2023
  • What stands out to you about filming that harrowing scene?
    — Alamin Yohannes, EW.com, 17 Oct. 2024
  • The harrowing scene is nearly identical to how Joel dies in the 2020 video game.
    — Monica Mercuri, Forbes.com, 21 Apr. 2025
  • The book tells the harrowing tale of a crew of Russian seal hunters who, in 1912, become trapped in the ice in the Siberian Arctic Circle.
    — Kelzim, Longreads, 19 Feb. 2022
  • The scene in question is the most harrowing and difficult to watch of the TIFF curtain-raiser.
    — Alex Ritman, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Sep. 2022
  • The high stakes of the shortages were made clear in a harrowing episode this month in Pulaski County.
    — Brad Schrade, ajc, 29 Nov. 2021
  • The North Riverside mall was the site of a harrowing point-blank fatal shooting that occurred in late May 2020.
    — Jake Sheridan, Chicago Tribune, 19 Apr. 2023
  • The court was shown harrowing video footage of screaming girls fleeing the building.
    — Bryan West, USA TODAY, 24 Jan. 2025
  • The story behind the wound was even more harrowing in real life.
    — Danielle Bacher, Peoplemag, 25 Sep. 2023
  • This is the harrowing story of how one mom scrambled to get help for her son and keep her head above water.
    — Hunter Clauss, Los Angeles Times, 31 Aug. 2024
  • The fourth quarter has been a harrowing frame all season.
    — Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune, 3 Mar. 2023
  • As harrowing as those three losses were for the Heat, Game 7 in Boston in many ways was as good as the Heat got all last season.
    — Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 23 June 2024
  • But for others the journey to safety has been much more harrowing.
    — Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 25 Mar. 2024
  • Ahead of him lay a harrowing journey home, evading Russian forces along the way.
    — Isabel Coles, WSJ, 15 May 2022
  • The sheriff learns his parents and his grandmother are alive after a harrowing escape through floodwaters.
    — Jennifer Berry Hawes, ProPublica, 19 May 2025
  • What follows is a harrowing rescue mission bringing together every member of 118.
    — Randall Colburn, EW.com, 16 May 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'harrowing.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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