Torture meaning

What does “torture” mean? Definitions, examples, synonyms and opposites.

“torture” is a noun and verb with 7 meanings. Its most common meaning is: extreme mental distress.

torture

extreme mental distress
Synonymsanguish torment
unbearable physical pain
Synonymstorment
intense feelings of suffering; acute mental or physical pain
“an agony of doubt”
“the torments of the damned”
Synonymsagony torment
the act of distorting something so it seems to mean something it was not intended to mean
Synonymsdistortion overrefinement straining twisting
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”
Synonymstorturing

torment emotionally or mentally
Synonymstorment excruciate rack
subject to torture
“The sinners will be tormented in Hell, according to the Bible”
Synonymsexcruciate torment

Source: WordNet 3.1, Princeton University