Synonyms for torture
ˈtɔr tʃərtor·ture

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:4.0 / 1 vote

1. torture

   Pain is the most general term of this group, including all the others; pain is a disturbing sensation from which nature revolts, resulting from some injurious external interference (as from a wound, a bruise, a harsh word, etc.), or from some lack of what one needs, craves, or cherishes (as, the pain of hunger or bereavement), or from some abnormal action of bodily or mental functions (as, the pains of disease, envy, or discontent). Suffering is one of the severer forms of pain. The prick of a needle causes pain, but we should scarcely speak of it as suffering. Distress is too strong a word for little hurts, too feeble for the intensest suffering, but commonly applied to some continuous or prolonged trouble or need; as, the distress of a shipwrecked crew, or of a destitute family. Ache is lingering pain, more or less severe; pang, a pain short, sharp, intense, and perhaps repeated. We speak of the pangs of hunger or of remorse. Throe is a violent and thrilling pain. Paroxysm applies to an alternately recurring and receding pain, which comes as it were in waves; the paroxysm is the rising of the wave. Torment and torture are intense and terrible sufferings. Agony and anguish express the utmost pain or suffering of body or mind. Agony of body is that with which the system struggles; anguish that by which it is crushed.

   Synonyms:
   ache, agony, anguish, distress, pain, pang, paroxysm, suffering, throe, torment, twinge, wo(e)

   Antonyms:
   comfort, delight, ease, enjoyment, peace, rapture, relief, solace

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:2.7 / 3 votes

1. torture

   Synonyms:
   agony, anguish, racking, torment

   Antonyms:
   ecstasy, rapture, bliss

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. anguish, torment, torturenoun

   extreme mental distress

   Synonyms:
   badgering, distortion, worrying, overrefinement, torturing, straining, harassment, anguish, bedevilment, twisting, agony, curse, torment

2. torture, tormentnoun

   unbearable physical pain

   Synonyms:
   badgering, harassment, worrying, overrefinement, torturing, agony, anguish, bedevilment, curse, twisting, distortion, straining, torment

3. agony, torment, torturenoun

   intense feelings of suffering; acute mental or physical pain

   "an agony of doubt"; "the torments of the damned"

   Synonyms:
   badgering, distortion, worrying, overrefinement, torturing, straining, harassment, excruciation, anguish, bedevilment, suffering, twisting, agony, curse, torment

4. distortion, overrefinement, straining, torture, twistingnoun

   the act of distorting something so it seems to mean something it was not intended to mean

   Synonyms:
   overrefinement, straining, strain, torturing, spin, twist, optical aberration, twisting, aberration, whirl, twirl, distortion, deformation, agony, distorted shape, anguish, torment

5. torture, torturingverb

   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"

   Synonyms:
   overrefinement, torturing, agony, anguish, twisting, distortion, straining, torment

6. torment, torture, excruciate, rackverb

   torment emotionally or mentally

   Synonyms:
   squeeze, gouge, bedevil, wring, extort, rack, rag, single-foot, excruciate, crucify, scud, dun, frustrate, torment

7. torture, excruciate, tormentverb

   subject to torture

   "The sinners will be tormented in Hell, according to the Bible"

   Synonyms:
   bedevil, rack, rag, excruciate, crucify, dun, frustrate, torment

Matched Categories

1. • Anguish
   • Falsification
   • Injure
   • Pain
   • Suffering

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:5.0 / 1 vote

1. torturenoun

   Synonyms:
   anguish, agony, torment, rack, pang, extreme pain, excruciating pain, acute distress

2. tortureverb

   Synonyms:
   torment, distress, agonize, rack, excruciate, pain extremely, put to extreme pain

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:2.0 / 1 vote

1. List of paraphrases for "torture":

   tortured, torturing, tortures, tortura

Suggested Resources

1. torture

   Song lyrics by torture -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by torture on the Lyrics.com website.

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How to use torture in a sentence?

1. Sonya Sceats:

   The UN human rights chief has rightly concluded that Sri Lanka's domestic courts are ill-equipped to prosecute the heinous international crimes exposed by the UN investigation, sri Lankan torture survivors in treatment with us are adamant that they cannot trust a purely domestic process and will take comfort from the High Commissioner's warning that there must not be a replay of past broken promises.

2. Hussam Eesa:

   They torture the children – mostly flogging, beating on the hands and feet, and psychological torture.

3. Chris Jones:

   They were not just awake, they were driven. It was torture for them to do nothing, they like to run marathons -- many of our natural short sleepers ran marathons -- including mountain marathons where you go straight up. One of them decided he was going to build a violin, and he did.

4. Chris Smith:

   His condition has not improved since ; he has not regained consciousness, his wife, Yevgenia, said in an e-mail to RFE/RL and other media outlets. Kara-Murza’s father, a prominent journalist, told Russian media Thursday that the situation appears to be more serious than we thought. His lungs are being artificially ventilated, he is connected to 10 devices. Related ImageExpand / ContractKara-Murza,( l.), is an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as was his ally, Boris Nemtsov,( r.). , who was gunned down near the Kremlin in February. ( Reuters) Kara-Murza's father is a journalist with RFE/RL’s Russian Service. The activist's family was stopped short of raising public questions about whether foul play was involved. There is no criminal case so far, none has been opened because he is simply a normal patient who arrived at a Moscow hospital by ambulance. That’s his status, nothing more, his father told a radio station. Our task right now is to bring him to a normal trajectory of recuperation. We ’ll establish the cause [ of the illness ] later. Open Russia was founded by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, an oil oligarch and Kremlin opponent who lives in Switzerland after Mikhail Khodorkovsky was pardoned by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2013 following 10 years in prison. Open Russia's new documentary accuses Kadyrov, a former rebel fighter who joined forces with the Kremlin in 2000, of participating in murders and torture in the North Caucasus republic. Related ImageExpand / ContractChechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was accused of torture and murder in the new documentary. ( Reuters) Both the Kremlin and Kadyrov have denied involvement in the killing of Boris Nemtsov, although Kadyrov praised the main suspect in the case, a former Chechen police officer, as a.

5. James Goldston:

   Often international criminal investigations begin with the' crime base' -- authenticated images, witness testimonies and other evidence concerning killings, torture, rape or other prohibited offenses which may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity -- and proceed upward along a chain of military or political authority to demonstrate the culpability of those who ordered, or who knew of but failed to prevent/punish, the commission of such crimes.