torture
noun · verb
Simple meaning
The infliction of severe pain or anguish.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
tawrcherSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈtɔɹtʃɚ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The infliction of severe pain or anguish, especially as an interrogation technique or punishment; (usually in the plural) a technique, method, or device which is designed to inflict such anguish.
Severe pain or anguish, of mind or body.
in figurative or extended use
An unpleasant sensation or its infliction: embarrassment, heartache, etc.
verb
transitive
To intentionally inflict severe pain or suffering on (someone), usually with the aim of forcing confessions or punishing them.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The infliction of severe pain or anguish, especially as an interrogation technique or punishment; (usually in the plural) a technique, method, or device which is designed to inflict such anguish.
Used this way, torture is a reasonably familiar word carrying real weight of difficulty or hurt. It lands hard, so it overstates anything mild. It turns up most in personal or emotional discussion and literature or storytelling contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Strongly negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Very strong
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Strongly negative / painful
- Usage feel
- Everyday but emotionally strong
Where it naturally appears
- Personal/emotional discussion
- Literature/storytelling
Usage note
Torture is emotionally heavy: it suggests deep or lasting feeling, not a passing mood, so it can overstate a small reaction.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use torture
- “The difficult test felt like torture to the students who didn't study.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
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…
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A room in which torture is inflicted.
Torture that is sanctioned by the state and executed by duly accredited officials.
Blunt or penetrating trauma or rape (vaginal or anal).
Self-imposed distress.
An instrument of punishment designed and used to inflict torture on the condemned person.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.