torment
to afflict with great bodily or mental suffering; pain: to be tormented with violent headaches.
to worry or annoy excessively: to torment one with questions.
to throw into commotion; stir up; disturb.
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.
Origin of torment
1synonym study For torment
Other words for torment
Opposites for torment
Other words from torment
- tor·ment·ed·ly, adverb
- tor·ment·ing·ly, adverb
- tor·ment·ing·ness, noun
- un·tor·ment·ed, adjective
- un·tor·ment·ing, adjective
- un·tor·ment·ing·ly, adverb
Words Nearby torment
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use torment in a sentence
Dana explains in the edited-down interviews with Cosson — a theater director himself, whose voice you also hear on the tape — that this sit-down is the first time she has ever confided in detail the torment she underwent.
It has been a rough year for Whitman’s legacy but a splendid one for historical truth and for freeing the Cayuses from the long torment of a missionary’s lie.
The nomination of Chuck Sams to lead the Park Service is already changing history | Blaine Harden | October 18, 2021 | Washington PostOver the course of Sherwood Brown’s arrest, conviction and 28 years in prison, there were numerous points at which Mississippi could have done right by him, or at least ended his torment.
Another victim of America’s greatest forensics fraudster has been exonerated | Radley Balko | October 8, 2021 | Washington PostA few think pieces about the show have even argued that Ted himself functions as a sort of ersatz therapist for a world filled with conflict and torment.
It also was a source of torment at school, where she says she was made fun of for being poor.
A TikTok influencer brings cryptocurrency trading to the masses | Hamza Shaban | June 24, 2021 | Washington Post
We are the sick ones who torment trans people every day of their lives.
Cover-Ups and Concern Trolls: Actually, It's About Ethics in Suicide Journalism | Arthur Chu | January 3, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTThey endure further torment as rates of rape, domestic violence and early marriage skyrocket in times of crisis.
Are We Listening to Syria’s Women and Girls? | David Miliband, Melanne Verveer | September 26, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTUnlike the Cheneys, here is a man whose misdemeanors came to torment him.
Three Dicks: Cheney, Nixon, Richard III and the Art of Reputation Rehab | Clive Irving | July 27, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTYear after year they have to endure the torment of being required to live up to the role that Ernest Hemingway gave them.
The periodic agony that accompanies sickle cell was joined by the torment of persistent eye infections and repeated surgeries.
Before he faced Lettice, he must forget a moment—forget his fears, his hopes, his ceaseless torment of belief and doubt.
The Wave | Algernon BlackwoodShe could not be anything but a burden and a torment; her last years would probably be dreadful, both for herself and for others.
Hilda Lessways | Arnold BennettDeep within him he knew that he had become a stranger to his own wife and the realization sharply increased his torment.
The Man from Time | Frank Belknap LongBut even an age of war and pestilence could be observed without torment from behind the protective shields of the Time Machine.
The Man from Time | Frank Belknap LongWhen the baby slept he was in torment lest he wake it, so that it would commence again to cry.
Scattergood Baines | Clarence Budington Kelland
British Dictionary definitions for torment
to afflict with great pain, suffering, or anguish; torture
to tease or pester in an annoying way: stop tormenting the dog
physical or mental pain
a source of pain, worry, annoyance, etc
archaic an instrument of torture
archaic the infliction of torture
Origin of torment
1Derived forms of torment
- tormented, adjective
- tormentedly, adverb
- tormenting, adjective, noun
- tormentingly, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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