Meaning & use
torture
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Meanings
noununcountable
The act of deliberately causing great pain to someone, often to punish them or force information.
Grammar: Uncountable: torture is banned by treaty.
Patterns
- torture of someone
- under torture
The treaty bans torture in all circumstances.
Prisoners described the use of torture in the camp.
He confessed only under torture.
nouncountable or uncountableinformalfigurative
Something very unpleasant or hard to bear, used for effect.
Grammar: Informal exaggeration: the wait was torture.
Patterns
- pure torture
Waiting for the results was torture.
The long meeting was sheer torture.
Sitting still all day is torture for kids.
verbtransitive
To deliberately cause someone great pain or suffering.
Grammar: Takes an object: torture a prisoner.
Patterns
- torture someone
- torture someone for something
Soldiers were accused of torturing prisoners.
The villain tortured his captives for information.
Guilt tortured him for years.
Word forms
| plural | tortures |
|---|---|
| third person singular | tortures |
| past tense | tortured |
| past participle | tortured |
| -ing form | torturing |
Common combinations
- subject to torture
- The prisoner was subjected to torture.
- under torture
- Confessions made under torture are not reliable.
- ban torture
- The country voted to ban torture.
- torture victim
- The clinic treats torture victims.
- sheer torture
- The traffic was sheer torture.
Synonyms and how they differ
- agony
- Agony names intense pain itself, whereas torture is deliberate.
- abuse
- Abuse is a wider word for mistreatment that need not be extreme pain.
- torment
- Torment can be mental and ongoing, and need not be deliberate.
- persecute
- Persecute means to treat someone cruelly over time because of who they are.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: torture or tortuous?
torture vs tortuous
Tortuous means full of twists and turns, while torturous means causing pain.
Practice
Which adjective means 'very painful or difficult' and comes from torture?
Choose one answer.
Torturous means causing great pain; tortuous looks similar but means winding or twisting.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “torture”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.