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torture
[ tawr-cher ]
noun
- the act of inflicting excruciating pain, as punishment or revenge, as a means of getting a confession or information, or for sheer cruelty.
- a method of inflicting such pain.
- Often tortures. the pain or suffering caused or undergone.
- extreme anguish of body or mind; agony.
- a cause of severe pain or anguish.
verb (used with object)
- to subject to torture.
- to afflict with severe pain of body or mind:
My back is torturing me.
- to force or extort by torture:
We'll torture the truth from his lips!
- to twist, force, or bring into some unnatural position or form:
trees tortured by storms.
- to distort or pervert (language, meaning, etc.).
torture
/ ˈtɔːtʃə /
verb
- to cause extreme physical pain to, esp in order to extract information, break resistance, etc
to torture prisoners
- to give mental anguish to
- to twist into a grotesque form
noun
- physical or mental anguish
- the practice of torturing a person
- a cause of mental agony or worry
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Usage
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Derived Forms
- ˈtorturingly, adverb
- ˈtorturer, noun
- ˈtortured, adjective
- ˈtorturously, adverb
- ˈtorturing, adjective
- ˈtorturedly, adverb
- ˈtorturesome, adjective
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Other Words From
- tortur·a·ble adjective
- tortured·ly adverb
- tortur·er noun
- torture·some adjective
- tortur·ing·ly adverb
- over·torture verb (used with object) overtortured overtorturing
- pre·torture noun verb (used with object) pretortured pretorturing
- self-torture noun
- self-tortured adjective
- self-tortur·ing adjective
- un·tortured adjective
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Word History and Origins
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Word History and Origins
Origin of torture1
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Synonym Study
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Example Sentences
But Chechen leader Kadyrov does not think that Committee Against Torture was needed in Chechnya.
Torture, the UVa rape, police violence—we hunger for the facts, and then twist them.
He also wrote, “Torture is not a thing that we can tolerate.”
White House Must Decide Who Will Be Named in the CIA ‘Torture Report’
Looking for a place to go, Alyokhina called her friends at a local human rights center, the Committee Against Torture.
Torture may change your mind, as shame shall change your body.
Torture indescribable has made of me a writhing, moaning, helpless creature for the past few minutes.
Torture was still employed in capital cases to force confession even in Holland and France.
Hercules in all the extremity of his Torture does not fall foul upon Religion.
Torture was, therefore, at once employed to discover the hidden treasures.
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