Word.ws English Dictionary

Chinese water torture

Chinese water torture noun: a form of torture in which water is repetitively dripped onto the forehead of a victim who is restrained.

Noun

Chinese water torture (uncountable)

  1. A form of torture in which water is repetitively dripped onto the forehead of a victim who is restrained.
    • It has come to be known as Chinese water torture, but was actually invented by a sixteenth-century Italian lawyer named Hippolytus de Marsiliis.2002, Greg Emmanuel, Extreme Encounters, →ISBN
    • The plunk of the keys was beginning to feel like Chinese water torture, each note a painful drip. Is that a real thing? Chinese water torture, I mean.2006, Jacqueline Pearce, The Truth About Rats (and Dogs), →ISBN, page 1
  2. (broadly, idiomatic) Any repeated irritation that builds to deliver cumulative damage.
    • The growth of subsidies is a Chinese water torture on individual liberty.1994, James Bovard, Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty, →ISBN, page 162
    • The end wasn't about money, nobody had an affair, and no firearms were involved. I think what I learned from the experience is that if there are things that bother you before you get married and you can't even discuss them, can't even talk about how to change or deal with whatever issues are going...2007, Theresa Alan, Getting Married, →ISBN, page 8

Chinese water torture meaning in Persian

Chinese water torture in Persian

torture method
شکنجه آب چینی

Examples of Chinese water torture in a sentence

  • Today I still have a hole in the front of my skull from the Chinese water torture inflicted on me.2007, Dan Clark, The Thrill of Teaching, →ISBN, page 61:
  • Is it true that a person really went crazy when subjected to the ancient practice of Chinese water torture?2010, Erin Barrett, Jack Mingo, Just Curious About History, Jeeves, →ISBN, page 220:
  • It was an exercise in Chinese water torture for me.2007, Theresa Alan, Getting Married, →ISBN, page 8:
  • Compared to Hansen's own blitzkrieg appointment, it was a drawn-out affair, like some kind of political Chinese water torture.2011, Alun Carter, Nicholas Bishop, Seeing Red: Twelve Tumultuous Years in Welsh Rugby, →ISBN:

Questions about Chinese water torture

What does Chinese water torture mean?
Chinese water torture means a form of torture in which water is repetitively dripped onto the forehead of a victim who is restrained.
What is Chinese water torture in Persian?
Chinese water torture in Persian is شکنجه آب چینی. See Chinese water torture meaning in Persian.
How do you use Chinese water torture in a sentence?
Today I still have a hole in the front of my skull from the Chinese water torture inflicted on me.
What part of speech is Chinese water torture?
Chinese water torture is a noun.

Words near Chinese water torture in the dictionary

  1. Chinese Wall
  2. Chinese Walls
  3. Chinese water chestnut
  4. Chinese water chestnuts
  5. Chinese water deer
  6. Chinese water torture
  7. Chinese wax
  8. Chinese whispers
  9. Chinese whist
  10. Chinese white
  11. Chinese white dolphin

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Chinese water torture (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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