self-torment

[ self-tawr-ment, self- ]

noun
  1. an act or instance of tormenting oneself, as with worry or guilt.

Origin of self-torment

1
First recorded in 1640–50

Other words from self-torment

  • self-tor·ment·ed, adjective
  • self-tor·ment·ing, adjective
  • self-tor·ment·ing·ly, adverb
  • self-tor·men·tor, noun

Words Nearby self-torment

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use self-torment in a sentence

  • She would only have had a needless fright, to see her mother, haggard with self-torment, by her bedside at that hour.

    Somehow Good | William de Morgan
  • To encourage such fantasy was the idlest self-torment, but he had gone too far in this form of indulgence.

    New Grub Street | George Gissing
  • With a saint's capacity for self-torment, Madeleine wielded the scourge over her own back until the blood came.

  • Then there came over him a spirit of defiance, of self-torment, of ill-humour, and he felt tempted to throw up the whole thing.

    The Growth of a Soul | August Strindberg
  • Charity listened with a greed of self-torment like a fanatic penitent.

    We Can't Have Everything | Rupert Hughes