Dictionary entry details
• TORTURE (noun)
Meaning:
Extreme mental distress
Classified under:
Nouns denoting feelings and emotions
Synonyms:
anguish; torture; torment
Hypernyms ("torture" is a kind of...):
distress; hurt; suffering (psychological suffering)
Meaning:
Unbearable physical pain
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Synonyms:
torment; torture
Hypernyms ("torture" is a kind of...):
hurting; pain (a symptom of some physical hurt or disorder)
Meaning:
Intense feelings of suffering; acute mental or physical pain
Classified under:
Nouns denoting feelings and emotions
Synonyms:
agony; torment; torture
Context examples:
an agony of doubt / the torments of the damned
Hypernyms ("torture" is a kind of...):
hurt; suffering (feelings of mental or physical pain)
Meaning:
The act of distorting something so it seems to mean something it was not intended to mean
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Synonyms:
twisting; overrefinement; straining; torture; distortion
Hypernyms ("torture" is a kind of...):
falsification; misrepresentaation (a willful perversion of facts)
Meaning:
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
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Synonyms:
torturing; torture
Context example:
it required unnatural torturing to extract a confession
Hypernyms ("torture" is a kind of...):
persecution (the act of persecuting (especially on the basis of race or religion))
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "torture"):
bastinado; falanga (a form of torture in which the soles of the feet are beaten with whips or cudgels)
dismemberment; taking apart (the removal of limbs; being cut to pieces)
electric shock (the use of electricity to administer punishment or torture)
strapado; strappado (a form of torture in which the hands are tied behind a person's back and they are lifted off the ground by a rope tied to their wrists, then allowed to drop until their fall is checked with a jerk by the rope)
sleep deprivation (a form of psychological torture inflicted by depriving the victim of sleep)
sensory deprivation (a form of psychological torture inflicted by depriving the victim of all sensory input)
rack (a form of torture in which pain is inflicted by stretching the body)
prolonged interrogation (a form of psychological torture inflicted by questioning the victim for hours)
picket; piquet (a form of military punishment used by the British in the late 17th century in which a soldier was forced to stand on one foot on a pointed stake)
nail pulling; nail removal (a form of torture in which the fingernails or toenails are removed)
boot (a form of foot torture in which the feet are encased in iron and slowly crushed)
burning (a form of torture in which cigarettes or cigars or other hot implements are used to burn the victim's skin)
crucifixion; excruciation (the infliction of extremely painful punishment or suffering)
genital torture (blunt or penetrating trauma or rape (vaginal or anal))
judicial torture (torture that is sanctioned by the state and executed by duly accredited officials)
kia quen (a form of foot torture used by the Chinese in which the victim's foot was placed between three pieces of bamboo and systematically squeezed)
kittee (a form of torture used by American Indians in which sensitive parts of the body were squeezed between two boards until the victim could bear no more)
• TORTURE (verb)
Meaning:
Torment emotionally or mentally
Classified under:
Verbs of feeling
Synonyms:
excruciate; torment; torture; rack
Hypernyms (to "torture" is one way to...):
anguish; hurt; pain (cause emotional anguish or make miserable)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Sentence example:
The bad news will torture him
Meaning:
Subject to torture
Classified under:
Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care
Synonyms:
torture; excruciate; torment
Context example:
The sinners will be tormented in Hell, according to the Bible
Hypernyms (to "torture" is one way to...):
injure; wound (cause injuries or bodily harm to)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "torture"):
rack (torture on the rack)
martyr; martyrise; martyrize (torture and torment like a martyr)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s somebody
Sentence example:
They want to torture the prisoners
