self-torture

American  

[self-tawr-cher] / ˈsɛlfˈtɔr tʃər /

noun

1. the act of torturing oneself; an activity causing extreme physical, mental, or emotional pain to oneself.

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verb (used without object)

self-tortured, self-torturing

1. to deliberately torture oneself physically, mentally, or emotionally.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• self-torturous
  adjective

Example Sentences

First-year North Carolina coach Hubert Davis disclosed that for years he engaged in a form of self-torture.

From Washington Post • Apr. 3, 2022

These interests set him apart at school, and he would later define this period of his life as a “desperate quest, filled with effort, judgment, self-torture and constant striving”.

From The Guardian • Jan. 9, 2020

Is doing a one-woman show actually a form of self-torture?

From Los Angeles Times • May 4, 2018

He did not appear to be one of those actors given to second-guessing or self-torture after a night onstage.

From New York Times • Jan. 5, 2016

How guilt refined the methods of self-torture, threading the beads of detail into an eternal loop, a rosary to be fingered for a lifetime.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan