agony column

Noun

agony column (plural agony columns)

1. (UK, uncommon) Synonym of personal column, a column in a newspaper or other periodical of personal advertisements.
   • 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. (UK) Synonym 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
   • 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