torture
pronunciation
How to pronounce torture in British English:
UK [ˈtɔːtʃə(r)]
How to pronounce torture in American English:
US [ˈtɔːrtʃər]
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- Noun:
- extreme mental distress
- unbearable physical pain
- intense feelings of suffering; acute mental or physical pain
- the act of distorting something so it seems to mean something it was not intended to mean
- the act of torturing someone
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- Verb:
- torment emotionally or mentally
- subject to torture
Word Origin
- torture
- torture: see torment
- torture (n.)
- early 15c., "contortion, twisting, distortion; a disorder characterized by contortion," from Old French torture "infliction of great pain; great pain, agony" (12c.), and directly from Late Latin tortura "a twisting, writhing," in Medieval Latin "pain inflicted by judicial or ecclesiastical authority as a means of punishment or persuasion," from stem of Latin torquere "to twist, turn, wind, wring, distort" (see torque (n.)). The meaning "infliction of severe bodily pain as a means of punishment or persuasion" in English is from 1550s. The theory behind judicial torture was that a guilty person could be made to confess, but an innocent one could not, by this means. Macaulay writes that it was last inflicted in England in May 1640.
- torture (v.)
- 1580s, from torture (n.). Related: Tortured; torturing.
Example
- 1. But you don 't get it from torture .
- 2. He knows this is torture for her as well .
- 3. It has been attacked for condoning torture .
- 4. Other recent arrivals speak of slave labour and torture .
- 5. Mr. obama has called waterboarding torture .