From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishtorturetor‧ture1 /ˈtɔːtʃə $ ˈtɔːrtʃər/ ●○○ noun [countable, uncountable] 1 HURT/CAUSE PAINCRUELan act of deliberately hurting someone in order to force them to tell you something, to punish them, or to be cruel He died after five days of excruciating torture.2 SUFFERsevere physical or mental suffering The waiting must be torture for you.
Examples from the Corpus
torture• Heinz suggested that laws and constitutions of countries should be strengthened to make international declarations against torture into enforceable law.• Barbara was subjected to heinous torture, yet refused to disavow her faith.• Also patron of torture victims; he is invoked against foot trouble.• I never particularly relished torture, but I resigned myself to it when I arrived in Algiers..• They are not the reasons for the torture that I would be suffering in his place.• I should have been spared the torture of separation from my father during his last moments...• Most of the reported deaths, however, were due to torture in both military barracks and police stations.• The militias have been know to use torture to get people to confess.• What torture parent's lectures are for children!torturetorture2 ●○○ verb [transitive] 1 HURT/CAUSE PAINto deliberately hurt someone in order to force them to give you information, to punish them, or to be cruel Political opponents of the regime may be tortured.2 SUFFERif a feeling or knowledge tortures you, it makes you suffer a lot mentally SYN torment Rachel sat alone for hours at home, tortured by jealousy. —torturer noun [countable]→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
torture• Several of the prisoners confirmed that they had been tortured.• Piotr Jaroszewicz, 83, had been strangled at home near Warsaw after apparently being tortured.• When confronted with the messiah being humiliated, tortured and killed, Peter refuses to listen.• He is drawn to the Ring and his thoughts are tortured by it.• He is still tortured by memories of the attack.• His jailers realized that his ransom would exceed those of the other prisoners, so Raymond was continuously tortured for preaching.• And perms, our straight hair tortured into frizz for the Christmas or Easter gathering and the requisite smiling photograph.• Anticipated in December and enjoyed in January, February citrus can torture the souls of tree owners.Origin torture1 (1500-1600) French Late Latin tortura, from Latin tortus “twisted”, from torquere; → TORQUE 