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torment

 - 4 dictionary results

tor⋅ment

  [v. tawr-ment, tawr-ment; n. tawr-ment]
Use torment in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to afflict with great bodily or mental suffering; pain: to be tormented with violent headaches.
2. to worry or annoy excessively: to torment one with questions.
3. to throw into commotion; stir up; disturb.
–noun
4. a state of great bodily or mental suffering; agony; misery.
5. something that causes great bodily or mental pain or suffering.
6. a source of much trouble, worry, or annoyance.
7. an instrument of torture, as the rack or the thumbscrew.
8. the infliction of torture by means of such an instrument or the torture so inflicted.
Origin:
1250–1300; (n.) ME < OF < L tormentum rope, catapult, torture < *torkw-ment- (see torque, -ment ); (v.) ME tormenten < OF tormenter, deriv. of torment (cf. LL tormentāre)

Related forms:
tor⋅ment⋅ed⋅ly, adverb
tor⋅ment⋅ing⋅ly, adverb
tor⋅ment⋅ing⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
1. harry, hector, vex, distress, agonize. Torment, rack, torture suggest causing great physical or mental pain, suffering, or harassment. To torment is to afflict or harass as by incessant repetition of vexations or annoyances: to be tormented by doubts. To rack is to affect with such pain as that suffered by one stretched on a rack; to concentrate with painful effort: to rack one's brains. To torture is to afflict with acute and more or less protracted suffering: to torture one by keeping one in suspense. 2. plague, pester, tease, provoke, needle, trouble, fret. 4. torture, distress, anguish.

Antonyms:
1. please.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To torment
tor·ment   (tôr'měnt')   
n.  

  1. Great physical pain or mental anguish.

  2. A source of harassment, annoyance, or pain.

  3. The torture inflicted on prisoners under interrogation.

tr.v.   (tôr-měnt', tôr'měnt') tor·ment·ed, tor·ment·ing, tor·ments

  1. To cause to undergo great physical pain or mental anguish. See Synonyms at afflict.

  2. To agitate or upset greatly.

  3. To annoy, pester, or harass.


[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin tormentum, from torquēre, to twist; see terkw- in Indo-European roots.]
tor·ment'ing·ly adv.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

torment  (n.)
c.1290, "inflicting of torture," also "state of great suffering," from O.Fr. tourment (11c.), from L. tormentum "twisted sling, rack," related to torquere "to twist" (see thwart). The verb is first recorded c.1290, from O.Fr. tormenter (12c.).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Bible Dictionary

Torment

Gr. basanos (Matt. 4:24), the "touch-stone" of justice; hence inquisition by torture, and then any disease which racks and tortures the limbs.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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