torture
Syllables: tor·tureUK/ˈtɔːt͡ʃə/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/ˈtoːt͡ʃə/
torture noun: the infliction of severe pain or anguish, especially as an interrogation technique or punishment; (usually in the plural) a technique, method, or device which is designed to inflict such anguish.
Noun
torture (countable and uncountable, plural tortures)
- The infliction of severe pain or anguish, especially as an interrogation technique or punishment; (usually in the plural) a technique, method, or device which is designed to inflict such anguish.
- People confess to anything under torture.
- Using large dogs to attack bound, hand-cuffed prisoners is clearly torture.
- Synonyms:
- enhanced interrogation techniques
- Severe pain or anguish, of mind or body.
- An unpleasant sensation or its infliction: embarrassment, heartache, etc.
- Every time she says 'goodbye' it is torture!
- Coventry City midfielder Josh Ruffels described his 11 months out injured as 'absolute torture' after the goalless draw with Derby County Under-21s. (http://www.ccfc.co.uk/news/article/eleven-months-of-absolute-torture-760652.aspx)
Verb
torture (third-person singular simple present tortures, present participle torturing, simple past and past participle tortured)
- To intentionally inflict severe pain or suffering on (someone), usually with the aim of forcing confessions or punishing them.
- 1 August 2014, Barack Obama, "Press Conference by the President"; transcript published online by the Obama White House Archives, [https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/08/01/press-conference-president [1]].
With respect to the larger point of the RDI report itself, even before... - People who torture often have sadistic tendencies.
- 1 August 2014, Barack Obama, "Press Conference by the President"; transcript published online by the Obama White House Archives, [https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/08/01/press-conference-president [1]].
torture meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
torture in Hindi
- intentional causing of somebody's experiencing agony
- यंत्रणा yantraṇā, यातना yātnā, संतापन santāpan
torture in Tamil
- வதைப்பு, வதைமை, சித்திரவதை, கொடுமை, கொடுமைப்பாடு, வதை
torture in Marathi
- अत्याचार, छळ करणे
torture in Urdu
- torture
- عذاب 'azāb, عقاب 'iqāb
- torture, agony, bane, harassment, sufferance, suffering, trouble, hot water
- اذیت aziyat
More languagesFewer languages
- torture in Bengali
- যন্ত্রণা jontrona
- torture in Telugu
- చిత్రహింస citrahiṁsa
- torture in Malayalam
- പീഡനം pīḍanaṁ, ദണ്ഡനം daṇḍanaṁ
- torture in Kannada
- ಯಾತನೆಯನ್ನುಂಟು ಮಾಡುವುದು, ಟೆಬ್ಬರ, ಟೆಪ್ಪರ, ಯಾತನೆ
- torture in Punjabi
- ਤਸ਼ੱਦਦ taśaddad
- torture in Gujarati
- ત્રાસ trās
- torture in Odia
- ଚେଁଖ cẽkha
- torture in Sanskrit
- लुम्बति lumbati
- torture in Sinhala
- වධ wadha
- torture in Nepali
- यातना, यातना दिने
- torture in Pashto
- شکنجه škanja, عذاب 'azāb, تعذيب ta'zīb
- torture in Arabic
- تَعْذِيب taʕḏīb, عَذَاب ʕaḏāb, عَذَّبَ ʕaḏḏaba
- torture in Persian
- شکنجه šekanje, عذاب 'azâb, تعذیب ta'zib, شکنجه دادن šekanje dâdan
- torture in Thai
- การทรมาน gaan-tɔɔ-rá-maan, ทารุณกรรม taa-run-ná-gam, ทรมาน tɔɔ-rá-maan
- torture in Vietnamese
- nhục hình, sự tra tấn, tra tấn
- torture in Myanmar
- ညှဉ်းပမ်း hnyany:pam:, ညှဉ်း hnyany:
Examples of torture in a sentence
- What new tortures await me?
- If Cheney calls it enhanced interrogation, he argues, this still doesn’t change the meaning of the word torture, which Cheney and the public know perfectly well.2014 January, Claire Kramsch, “Language and Culture”, in AILA Review, volume 27, number 5, John Benjamins, →DOI, →ISSN, page 35:
- Santorum, in a comment regarding Senator John McCain's repudiation of torture, stated, "He doesn't understand how enhanced interrogation works.2015 November 30, Shane O'Mara, Why Torture Doesn’t Work: The Neuroscience of Interrogation, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 12:
Synonyms of torture
- enhanced interrogation techniques
- anguish
- rend
- difficulty
- distress
- grief
- hardship
- pain
- smart
- torment
17 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of torture
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | tortures |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | tortures |
| present participle | torturing |
| past participle | tortured |
| past | tortured |
Origin of torture
From Middle English torture, from Old French torture, from Late Latin tortūra (“a twisting, writhing, of bodily pain, a griping colic;” in Medieval Latin “pain inflicted by judicial or ecclesiastical authority as a means of persuasion, torture”), from Latin tortus (whence also tort), past participle of torquēre (“to twist”).
Words formed from torture
- retorture
- torturable
- torturee
- torturer
- antitorture
- bamboo torture
- C & B torture
- C&B torture
- C and B torture
- Chinese water torture
- electrotorture
- genitorture
- Muldertorture
- pretorture
- surf torture
- torture chamber
- torturelike
- torturemeister
- torture-meister
- tortureproof
- torturesome
- torture stake
- torture test
- torture-test
- torture warrant
Phrases with torture
Words that rhyme with torture
Questions about torture
- What does torture mean?
- Torture means the infliction of severe pain or anguish, especially as an interrogation technique or punishment; (usually in the plural) a technique, method, or device which is designed to inflict such anguish.
- What is torture in Hindi?
- Torture in Hindi is यंत्रणा (yantraṇā), यातना (yātnā), संतापन (santāpan). See Torture meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use torture in a sentence?
- What new tortures await me?
- What part of speech is torture?
- Torture can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce torture?
- Torture is pronounced /ˈtɔːt͡ʃə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of torture?
- The plural of torture is tortures.
Words near torture in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: torture (page history and authors); torture (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); torture (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); اذیت (Urdu) (page history and authors); ദണ്ഡനം (Malayalam) (page history and authors); torture (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ଚେଁଖ (Odia) (page history and authors); torture (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-torture.ogg.
Cite this entry: “torture.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/torture. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.