Definition

Adjective: 1. Tormented or harassed, especially by nightmares, fears, or anxieties: The word describes a state of being persistently troubled, worried, or oppressed, as if by a malevolent force (a "hag"). It implies a deep, nagging distress that dominates one's thoughts.

Usage

• The adjective hag-ridden is typically used before a noun or after a linking verb like "feel" or "be."
• It describes a person's mental or emotional state, emphasizing a sense of being haunted or consumed by worry.
• It is a literary and somewhat old-fashioned term, conveying a strong, vivid image of torment.

Examples

• Adjective:
  • After the accident, she became a hag-ridden insomniac, plagued by recurring nightmares.
  • The hag-ridden expression on his face revealed the constant stress of his financial debts.
  • He felt hag-ridden by guilt over his past decisions.

Advanced Usage

• The term can be used metaphorically beyond personal fear to describe something oppressed by a persistent negative influence.
  • The hag-ridden policy was doomed to fail, burdened by contradictory goals and bureaucratic inertia.

Variants and Related Words

• Hagride (verb, archaic): To torment or harass, as if by a witch or nightmare. This is the verb form from which "hag-ridden" is derived.
  • Fears of failure continued to hagride him throughout his career.

Synonyms

• Tormented
• Haunted
• Plagued
• Bedeviled
• Oppressed
• Harassed

Idioms and Phrases

• While not an idiom itself, hag-ridden fits the conceptual pattern of phrases like "ridden with anxiety" or "plagued by doubt," but with a more intense, gothic connotation.

Adjective

1. tormented or harassed by nightmares or unreasonable fears
   • hagridden...by visions of an imminent heaven or hell upon earth- C.S.Lewis