torment
Americanverb (used with object)
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torments,
present (3rd person singular)
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tormented,
past participle, past
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tormenting
present participle
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to afflict with great bodily or mental suffering; pain.
to be tormented with violent headaches.
- Antonyms:
- please
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to worry or annoy excessively.
to torment one with questions.
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to throw into commotion; stir up; disturb.
noun
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torments
plural
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a state of great bodily or mental suffering; agony; misery.
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something that causes great bodily or mental pain or suffering.
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a source of much trouble, worry, or annoyance.
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an instrument of torture, as the rack or the thumbscrew.
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the infliction of torture by means of such an instrument or the torture so inflicted.
verb
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to afflict with great pain, suffering, or anguish; torture
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to tease or pester in an annoying way
stop tormenting the dog
noun
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physical or mental pain
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a source of pain, worry, annoyance, etc
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archaic an instrument of torture
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archaic the infliction of torture
Synonym Usage
Torment , rack , torture suggest causing great physical or mental pain, suffering, or harassment. To torment is to afflict or harass as by incessant repetition of vexations or annoyances: to be tormented by doubts. To rack is to affect with such pain as that suffered by one stretched on a rack; to concentrate with painful effort: to rack one's brains. To torture is to afflict with acute and more or less protracted suffering: to torture one by keeping one in suspense.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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tormentingnessnoun
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tormentedadjective
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tormentingadjective
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untormentedadjective
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untormentingadjective
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tormentedlyadverb
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tormentinglyadverb
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untormentinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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tormentsimple
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tormentssimple
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have tormentedperfect
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has tormentedperfect
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am tormentingprogressive
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are tormentingprogressive
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is tormentingprogressive
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have been tormentingperfect progressive
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has been tormentingperfect progressive
Past
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tormentedsimple
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had tormentedperfect
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was tormentingprogressive
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were tormentingprogressive
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had been tormentingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of torment
First recorded in 1250–1300; (noun) Middle English, from Old French, from Latin tormentum “rope, catapult, torture,” from unattested tork w -ment- ( see torque, -ment); (verb) Middle English tormenten, from Old French tormenter, derivative of torment (compare Late Latin tormentāre )
Explanation
By repeatedly trying to make someone miserable you torment them. The noun torment is the result of the verb torment. After stealing the old lady's purse, you might expect to be tormented by many sleepless nights. Those nights without sleep will torment (tor-MENT) you. They are your torment (TOR-ment). Perhaps you shouldn't have done that. You'll doubtless notice the relationship between torture and torment. But the subtle difference between them is that to torment someone is to torture them repeatedly. Often this is used metaphorically. For example, calling someone over and over to demand payment isn't actually torture, but it's certainly a way to torment them.
Vocabulary lists containing torment
Number the Stars
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Achievement First 5th Grade IA 1 Words
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That Hurts! Synonyms for "Pain"
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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:
He said the families of those killed and injured will be experiencing "torment".
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
A strikingly potent Frida, Isabel Leonard used her velvety mezzo to find the drama of the artist’s remembered torment as well as the undulating sensuality of her love for painting and colors.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 18, 2026
They added that since the fatal crash, they "have lived every day since then in torment — without peace, without answers, and without accountability".
From BBC ● May 1, 2026
But it’s mainly funny because this is what the Mets are: a habitually soul-crushing outfit that, especially when expectations are high, finds fresh and horrifying methods to torment its most loyal fans.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 22, 2026
To me, the torment seems to last for hours, since the chairs I use to make my bed longer are constantly being jiggled under my sleepy head.
From "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank
So many torments get thrown at him he’s like a Job who needs a job.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2025
After spending time in the divine abyss, we’re back in reality, ripped from the stratosphere and placed into one of life’s most mundane torments: the hygienist’s chair.
From Salon ● Apr. 19, 2025
Solange’s disgusting behavior as she torments her housemates is what the Eggers seem to be getting at.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2024
Mr. Turk’s life was a dark mirror of his country’s torments, and his improbable survival was testimony to his will to endure.
From New York Times ● Feb. 8, 2024
She imagined small high windows in a cliff face of brick, and thought perhaps she did, the way people imagined the different torments of hell.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
Like that film, the new one is an interesting if decidedly uneven work about pop-cultural obsession as an outlet for the more personal and tormented explorations of the protagonist.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
The rearrangement allowed Shankly to recall Toshack, who had been left out of the initial match, and he and Keegan tormented the Germans in a 3-0 victory, Liverpool subsequently winning 3-2 on aggregate.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
His ambition was driven by ghosts and dysfunction, and he was well on his way to becoming one of those tormented “geniuses” who, in Carmy’s own words, just make everything worse.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
And the officials who tormented Landor, he concluded, did not provide that consent, so the lawsuit has to fail.
From Slate ● Jun. 23, 2026
He wanted to ask her, but he did not, because he feared she would tell him the truth and he feared he would forever be tormented by it.
From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Nothing that caused Brazil a scintilla of concern, but it was a breather, a break from the tormenting ways of Brazil's phenomenon on the left wing if nothing else.
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
Brontë was fascinated by silent crypts and tormenting passions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
Fofana and Allan Saint-Maximin, on in place of Edouard and Said, continued the tormenting of PFC as they combined to add two goals in stoppage time.
From Barron's ● Feb. 14, 2026
“I know he is really good at that kind of stuff from playing against him and watching him do it and tormenting my team back in the day,” Stafford said, laughing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2025
Still, that doesn’t stop them from tormenting me by forcing me to think about doing those terrible things.
From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
