torment
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to afflict with great bodily or mental suffering; pain.
to be tormented with violent headaches.
- Antonyms:
- please
-
to worry or annoy excessively.
to torment one with questions.
-
to throw into commotion; stir up; disturb.
noun
-
a state of great bodily or mental suffering; agony; misery.
-
something that causes great bodily or mental pain or suffering.
-
a source of much trouble, worry, or annoyance.
-
an instrument of torture, as the rack or the thumbscrew.
-
the infliction of torture by means of such an instrument or the torture so inflicted.
verb
-
to afflict with great pain, suffering, or anguish; torture
-
to tease or pester in an annoying way
stop tormenting the dog
noun
-
physical or mental pain
-
a source of pain, worry, annoyance, etc
-
archaic an instrument of torture
-
archaic the infliction of torture
Related Words
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.
Other Word Forms
- tormented adjective
- tormentedly adverb
- tormenting adjective
- tormentingly adverb
- tormentingness noun
- untormented adjective
- untormenting adjective
- untormentingly adverb
Etymology
Origin of torment
First recorded in 1250–1300; (noun) Middle English, from Old French, from Latin tormentum “rope, catapult, torture,” from unattested tork w -ment- ( torque, -ment ); (verb) Middle English tormenten, from Old French tormenter, derivative of torment (compare Late Latin tormentāre )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The general thrust of the changes were to de-melodramatize Salieri’s action and to focus more attention on his guilt and metaphysical torment.
From Los Angeles Times
Meanwhile, Lucy’s life is upended when she is expelled from school; but years later, and not without making another questionable choice, she is finally free from his torment.
From Los Angeles Times
The scene in which he torments his son by bouncing a basketball against his head was spoofed by Mike Myers' Dr Evil in the second Austin Powers film.
From BBC
Jiller had cleaned the cut on his forehead, but his head still ached, and Sheba's jeering words of warning tormented him.
From Literature
The court was told that McGuckin was "tormented by the screams" of Aaron's grandmother who came to the scene shortly after the collision.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
