- the act of causing somebody severe pain in order to punish them or make them say or do something
- Many of the refugees have suffered torture.
- the use of torture
- terrible instruments of torture
- under torture His confessions were made under torture.
- I heard stories of gruesome tortures in prisons.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- brutal
- systematic
- mental
- …
- inflict
- endure
- suffer
- …
- camp
- chamber
- room
- …
- (informal) mental or physical pain; something that causes this
- The interview was sheer torture from start to finish.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- brutal
- systematic
- mental
- …
- inflict
- endure
- suffer
- …
- camp
- chamber
- room
- …
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