excruciate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to inflict severe pain upon; torture.
The headache excruciated him.
-
to cause mental anguish to; irritate greatly.
verb
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to inflict mental suffering on; torment
-
obsolete to inflict physical pain on; torture
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of excruciate
1560–70; < Latin excruciātus, past participle of excruciāre to torment, torture, equivalent to ex- ex- 1 + cruciāre to torment, crucify (derivative of crux cross); see -ate 1
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.
See Examples For:
Her presence used to excruciate Osborne; but go she would upon all parties of pleasure on which she heard her young friends were bent.
From Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
"He will be vulgarly stuck up, and excruciate me with every French word he attempts to pronounce."
From Magnum Bonum by Charlotte Mary Yonge
"And your bilious eyes and eyelids full of crows' feet, and the gout and the rheumatism which excruciate you?—those horrid spiders which are weaving their threads in the muscles of your calves?"
From Le Morvan, [A District of France,] Its Wild Sports, Vineyards and Forests; with Legends, Antiquities, Rural and Local Sketches by William Jesse
"You didn't excruciate my wrist so like time!" groaned Bill.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 83, September, 1864 by Various
“Zama,” a brief, indelible novel by the Argentinean writer Antonio Di Benedetto, is a work of waiting—of enforced lassitude, excruciated anticipation, and final frustration.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 15, 2017
The speaker is Tithonus himself, in love with Dawn but excruciated to be held captive to yet another day.
From The New Yorker ● Sep. 5, 2016
‘I have seen Lamb lately—Brown and I were taken by Hunt to Novello’s—there we were devastated and excruciated with bad and repeated puns—Brown don’t want to go again.’
From Life of John Keats His Life and Poetry, his Friends, Critics and After-fame by Sidney Colvin
Thus the Duke of Somerset goes to church, and finds an ignorant generation reposed in a paradise of illusions, while its more learned and thoughtful progeny is excruciated with doubt.
From The Christian Foundation, Or, Scientific and Religious Journal, Volume I, No. 9. September, 1880 by Aaron Walker
Take care, Alex, take care," cried Beatrice, in a sort of excruciated tone; "don't you see what a pinch you are giving it!
From Henrietta's Wish Or, Domineering by Charlotte Mary Yonge
"Listening to the over-performative drama of Zack's evidence was excruciating as he made himself out to be the victim," Lisa added.
From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2026
She was diagnosed at 19 after undergoing a laparoscopy when she was in "excruciating" pain.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
After an excruciating decade, from the murder to the end of the trial, he somehow landed soundly as one of the most resilient people I’d ever met.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
Charities step in to help some people leave on chartered planes, as well as via long, excruciating journeys on overcrowded trains and buses.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026
But she felt a twinge of sympathy for Mia, too, one she hadn’t felt before and had never expected to feel: how excruciating it must have been to think about giving her child away.
From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng
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