I was hoping for some help on this one. I'm looking for a word that carries all the connotations of "excruciating" (intense, prolonged, unbearable, torturous, etc) but relating to pleasure rather than pain.
I could potentially use "excruciating pleasure", applying it's lesser used meaning to imply "extreme/intense" – it might even be somewhat poetic, but there's an implication of masochism that doesn't really fit my narrative.
Any suggestions? I'm happy to to accept a clever protologism if no such word exists!
As an example:
The slow, seemingly endless mingling of their bodies was _______.
Best Answer
She experienced an exquisite pleasure.
[AHD]
The 'unbearable' flavour perhaps comes from the collocation 'exquisite pain', but the word is also used to describe pleasure.