self-torment

American  

[self-tawr-ment, self-] / ˈsɛlfˈtɔr mɛnt, ˌsɛlf- /

noun

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

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Other Word Forms

• self-tormentor
  noun
• self-tormented
  adjective
• self-tormenting
  adjective
• self-tormentingly
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of self-torment

First recorded in 1640–50

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

self-torment

“When a child is lost,” Mr. Saunders writes, “there is no end to the self-torment a parent may inflict.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

Was then not all sorrow in time, all self-torment and fear in time?

From "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse

He was doing what he could to undo that harm, and he was at that high pitch of self-torment when the lash of another was unbearable.

From Skyrider by Anton Otto Fischer

But Nature itself, apart from and unfilled by the Divine Light, is a self-torment, a mere Want, a Desire, a Hunger.

From Dialogues on the Supersensual Life by Jakob Böhme

But his self-torment did not let him rest anywhere.

From Dame Care by Bertha Overbeck