torture
Americannoun
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the act of inflicting excruciating pain, as punishment or revenge, as a means of getting a confession or information, or for sheer cruelty.
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a method of inflicting such pain.
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Often tortures. the pain or suffering caused or undergone.
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extreme anguish of body or mind; agony.
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a cause of severe pain or anguish.
verb (used with object)
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to subject to torture.
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to afflict with severe pain of body or mind.
My back is torturing me.
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to force or extort by torture.
We'll torture the truth from his lips!
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to twist, force, or bring into some unnatural position or form.
trees tortured by storms.
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to distort or pervert (language, meaning, etc.).
verb
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to cause extreme physical pain to, esp in order to extract information, break resistance, etc
to torture prisoners
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to give mental anguish to
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to twist into a grotesque form
noun
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physical or mental anguish
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the practice of torturing a person
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a cause of mental agony or worry
Usage
The adjective torturous is sometimes confused with tortuous. One speaks of a torturous experience, i.e. one that involves pain or suffering, but of a tortuous road, i.e. one that winds or twists
Related Words
See torment.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of torture
First recorded in 1530–40, torture is from the Late Latin word tortūra a twisting, torment, torture. See tort, -ure
Explanation
To torture is to torment or purposefully put someone through intense pain or agony. The word torture comes from the word for "harm." It can refer to the deliberate infliction of physical or mental suffering in order to punish or obtain information; the act of distorting something, so it means something it wasn't intended to mean; or extreme mental distress or unbearable physical pain not necessarily inflicted by another.
Vocabulary lists containing torture
"Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare, Act III
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Twists and Turns: Tor
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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.
Lorne Warburton had never heard of the hantavirus until three years ago when he was taken to hospital and put on life support, describing the sickness as "torture" and "hell on earth".
From BBC • May 7, 2026
If you tell people to torture themselves by listening to their baby cry instead of soothing her, there’s a reasonable possibility that they will report some benefits to the method even if there aren’t any.
From Slate • May 3, 2026
Corporate retreats are generally assumed to be torture, or at least a semi-stressful chore, what with their forced-fun activities and hybrid work-play environments that leave workers confused about boundaries.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 6, 2026
After the crackdown in January, Sheikhi fled to the autonomous Kurdistan region in Iraq, fearing arrest and torture back home, where the moustached, bespectacled man had been no stranger to anti-government protests.
From Barron's • Mar. 16, 2026
Air travel is obviously torture for the tall.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
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.
