'Torture' definitions:
Definition of 'torture'
(from WordNet)
noun
noun
Unbearable physical pain [syn: torture, torment]
noun
Intense feelings of suffering; acute mental or physical pain; "an agony of doubt"; "the torments of the damned" [syn: agony, torment, torture]
noun
The act of distorting something so it seems to mean something it was not intended to mean [syn: distortion, overrefinement, straining, torture, twisting]
noun
The deliberate, systematic, or wanton infliction of physical or mental suffering by one or more persons in an attempt to force another person to yield information or to make a confession or for any other reason; "it required unnatural torturing to extract a confession" [syn: torture, torturing]
verb
verb
Subject to torture; "The sinners will be tormented in Hell, according to the Bible" [syn: torture, excruciate, torment]
Definition of 'Torture'
From: GCIDE
- Torture \Tor"ture\ (t[^o]r"t[-u]r; 135), n. [F., fr. L. tortura, fr. torquere, tortum, to twist, rack, torture; probably akin to Gr. tre`pein to turn, G. drechseln to turn on a lathe, and perhaps to E. queer. Cf. Contort, Distort, Extort, Retort, Tart, n., Torch, Torment, Tortion, Tort, Trope.]
- 1. Extreme pain; anguish of body or mind; pang; agony; torment; as, torture of mind. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- Ghastly spasm or racking torture. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
- 2. Especially, severe pain inflicted judicially, either as punishment for a crime, or for the purpose of extorting a confession from an accused person, as by water or fire, by the boot or thumbkin, or by the rack or wheel. [1913 Webster]
- 3. The act or process of torturing. [1913 Webster]
- Torture, which had always been deciared illegal, and which had recently been declared illegal even by the servile judges of that age, was inflicted for the last time in England in the month of May, 1640. --Macaulay. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'torture'
From: GCIDE
- torture \tor"ture\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. tortured (t[^o]r"t[-u]rd; 135); p. pr. & vb. n. tTorturing.] [Cf. F. Torturer. ]
- 1. To put to torture; to pain extremely; to harass; to vex. [1913 Webster]
- 2. To punish with torture; to put to the rack; as, to torture an accused person. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- 3. To wrest from the proper meaning; to distort. --Jar. Taylor. [1913 Webster]
- 4. To keep on the stretch, as a bow. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
- The bow tortureth the string. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'torture'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- abuse,
- afflict,
- aggrieve,
- agonize,
- agonizingness,
- agony,
- ail,
- anguish,
- atrocious pain,
- bed of Procrustes,
- befoul,
- bewitch,
- bias,
- bite,
- blight,
- bloody,
- boot,
- burn,
- chafe,
- claw,
- clawing,
- color,
- condemn,
- confinement,
- contort,
- convulse,
- corrupt,
- cruciation,
- crucifixion,
- crucify,
- curse,
- cut,
- damage,
- defile,
- deprave,
- desolate,
- desolateness,
- desolation,
- despoil,
- destroy,
- disadvantage,
- dismember,
- dismemberment,
- disserve,
- distort,
- distress,
- do a mischief,
- do evil,
- do ill,
- do wrong,
- do wrong by,
- doom,
- draw and quarter,
- envenom,
- estrapade,
- excruciate,
- excruciatingness,
- excruciation,
- fester,
- fret,
- gall,
- galleys,
- garble,
- get into trouble,
- get one wrong,
- get wrong,
- give pain,
- gloss,
- gnaw,
- grate,
- grill,
- grind,
- gripe,
- harass,
- hard labor,
- harm,
- harrow,
- heartbreak,
- heartsickness,
- hell,
- hell upon earth,
- hex,
- holocaust,
- horror,
- hurt,
- impair,
- impale,
- impalement,
- imprisonment,
- incarceration,
- infect,
- inflame,
- inflict pain,
- injure,
- iron heel,
- irritate,
- jailing,
- jinx,
- keelhaul,
- keelhauling,
- kill by inches,
- lacerate,
- laceration,
- lancinate,
- lancination,
- macerate,
- maim,
- maltreat,
- mangle,
- martyr,
- martyrdom,
- martyrization,
- martyrize,
- menace,
- misapply,
- misapprehend,
- miscite,
- misconceive,
- misconstrue,
- misdeem,
- misdirect,
- misexplain,
- misexplicate,
- misexpound,
- misinterpret,
- misjudge,
- misquote,
- misread,
- misrender,
- misrepresent,
- misshape,
- mistake,
- mistranslate,
- mistreat,
- misunderstand,
- misuse,
- molest,
- mutilate,
- nightmare,
- nip,
- oppress,
- outrage,
- pain,
- passion,
- penal servitude,
- persecute,
- persecution,
- pervert,
- picket,
- picketing,
- pierce,
- pinch,
- play havoc with,
- play hob with,
- poison,
- pollute,
- prejudice,
- prick,
- Procrustean bed,
- prolong the agony,
- punish,
- purgatory,
- put to torture,
- rack,
- railriding,
- rankle,
- rasp,
- rip,
- rock pile,
- rub,
- savage,
- scarify,
- scarpines,
- scathe,
- screw,
- slant,
- smite,
- squeeze,
- stab,
- sting,
- strain,
- strain the sense,
- strappado,
- taint,
- tar and feather,
- tar-and-feathering,
- the gantlet,
- threaten,
- thumbscrew,
- torment,
- tormentingness,
- torturousness,
- try,
- tweak,
- twist,
- twist the words,
- varnish,
- violate,
- warp,
- wheel,
- wind,
- wound,
- wreak havoc on,
- wrench,
- wring,
- wrong