torment

[tawr-ment, tawr-ment, tawr-ment]

verb (used with object)

1. to afflict with great bodily or mental suffering; pain.

   to be tormented with violent headaches.

   Synonyms: agonize, distress, vex, vex, hector, harry
   Antonyms: please

2. to worry or annoy excessively.

   to torment one with questions.

   Synonyms: fret, trouble, trouble, needle, provoke, tease, pester, plague, plague

3. to throw into commotion; stir up; disturb.

noun

1. a state of great bodily or mental suffering; agony; misery.

   Synonyms: anguish, distress, torture

2. something that causes great bodily or mental pain or suffering.

3. a source of much trouble, worry, or annoyance.

4. an instrument of torture, as the rack or the thumbscrew.

5. the infliction of torture by means of such an instrument or the torture so inflicted.

torment

verb

1. to afflict with great pain, suffering, or anguish; torture

2. to tease or pester in an annoying way

   stop tormenting the dog

noun

1. physical or mental pain

2. a source of pain, worry, annoyance, etc

3. archaic,  an instrument of torture

4. archaic,  the infliction of torture

Other Word Forms

• tormentedly adverb
• tormentingly adverb
• tormentingness noun
• untormented adjective
• untormenting adjective
• untormentingly adverb
• tormenting adjective
• tormented adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of torment¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; (noun) Middle English, from Old French, from Latin tormentum “rope, catapult, torture,” from unattested tork w -ment- ( torque, -ment ); (verb) Middle English tormenten, from Old French tormenter, derivative of torment (compare Late Latin tormentāre )

Word History and Origins

Origin of torment¹

C13: from Old French, from Latin tormentum, from torquēre

Synonym Study

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.

Example Sentences

If his tormented characters don’t die by the film’s end, any freedom or peace they’re allowed comes at a price just as steep.

From Salon

"I could not process the torment that my parents and the others who were taken are facing," Mr Amin, 24, told the BBC in Delhi.

From BBC

Her mother is deeply tormented but endeavors to conceal her despair.

From Los Angeles Times

"She was just crying down the phone, blurting it out in such terror and torment," Ms Will told the BBC.

From BBC

He continued to torment Behrendorff, striking the left-armer for consecutive fours through square upon his return to the attack, and looked set to bring up the first century of this season's competition.

From BBC

Related Words

• afflict 
• annoy 
• bedevil 
• bother 
• harass 
• hound 
• hurt 
• irritate 
• mistreat 
• molest 
• nag 
• pester 
• plague 
• smite 
• tease 
• torture 
• vex