torture
noun
the act of inflicting excruciating pain, as punishment or revenge, as a means of getting a confession or information, or for sheer cruelty.
self-tortured
-
a word derived from
torture.
-
a word form of
self-torture.
self-torturenounthe act of torturing oneself; an activity causing extreme physical, mental, or emotional pain to oneself.
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.
Twelve years ago, Theo felt more like an abstract idea; a man I romanticized in all of his sensitive, self-tortured, manic-pixie-dream-guy ways.
From Slate ● Apr. 11, 2025
Aloy, instead of the self-tortured clone of Elizabet Sobeck, becomes a traveling vagabond — learning the songs of the pastoral Utaru people or the creation myths of the warlike Tenakth.
From The Verge ● Feb. 14, 2022
The characters in this franchise are perhaps the most self-tortured, or perhaps just more convincing at it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2021
He wrote to a friend: “It’s far & away the best thing I’ve done, simpler, more honest, and, for the first time, out of myself — that is, not self-tortured or -absorbed or -eviscerated.”
From New York Times ● Mar. 13, 2018
One hopes to avoid suffering by aloofness; but there falls upon the spirit a worse sickness than the weariness of toil—the ache of pent-up activities and self-tortured mystifications.
From The Silent Isle by Arthur Christopher Benson
