torture
verb/ˈtɔːtʃə(r)/
/ˈtɔːrtʃər/
[often passive]Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they torture | /ˈtɔːtʃə(r)/ /ˈtɔːrtʃər/ |
| he / she / it tortures | /ˈtɔːtʃəz/ /ˈtɔːrtʃərz/ |
| past simple tortured | /ˈtɔːtʃəd/ /ˈtɔːrtʃərd/ |
| past participle tortured | /ˈtɔːtʃəd/ /ˈtɔːrtʃərd/ |
| -ing form torturing | /ˈtɔːtʃərɪŋ/ /ˈtɔːrtʃərɪŋ/ |
- to hurt somebody physically or mentally in order to punish them or make them tell you something
- torture somebody Many of the rebels were captured and tortured by secret police.
- The prisoners were routinely tortured.
- torture somebody into doing something He was tortured into giving them the information.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- badly
- brutally
- severely
- …
- torture somebody to death
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- torture somebody to make somebody feel extremely unhappy or anxious synonym torment
- He spent his life tortured by the memories of his childhood.
Word Originlate Middle English (in the sense ‘distortion, twisting’, or a physical disorder characterized by this): via French from late Latin tortura ‘twisting, torment’, from Latin torquere ‘to twist’.
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torture