Throes means violent struggling or great pain — but you will almost never meet the word on its own. It lives inside the phrase 'in the throes of something', which means you are right in the middle of something hard, and it is not finished with you yet. A country in the throes of a crisis, a company in the throes of a big change, a family in the throes of moving house. The picture behind the word is a body twisting in pain, so it always carries the feeling of a struggle you cannot simply step out of. It is only plural — we say throes, not 'a throe'. It is a written, slightly dramatic word: newspapers, books, serious speeches. In everyday talk people would just say 'in the middle of'. Two things worth knowing. First, 'death throes' is a set phrase — the last struggles of a dying person or animal, and often used for a dying idea or business. Second, people now use 'in the throes of' quite loosely, even for happy busy things ('in the throes of planning the wedding'), which older speakers find odd, but you will see it.