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. The US:

   Although designated an' alien unprivileged enemy belligerent,' not technically afforded the rights of The US citizens, the complete disregard for the foundational concepts upon which the Constitution was founded is an affront to American values and concepts of justice, mr. Khan was subject to physical and psychological abuse well beyond approved enhanced interrogation techniques, instead being closer to torture performed by the most abusive regimes in modern history.

2. Ahmed Shaheed:

   Fundamental problems also exist with regard to the due process and fair trial rights of the accused, i continue to receive frequent and alarming reports about the use of prolonged solitary and incommunicado confinement, torture and ill-treatment, lack of access to lawyers and the use of confessions solicited under torture as evidence in trials - practices that clearly violate Iran's own laws.

3. Juan Pablo Badillo:

   ' It is brutal torture,' he told me, this is what was done by Stalin in the '40s and '50s in Russia.

4. Tomas Ojea Quintana:

   Repatriated North Koreans are at great risk of serious human rights violations, including torture, the government of North Korea criminalizes those who cross the border irregularly.

5. Manjula Sharma:

   How could anybody do this? it's not war. It's not drought. It's not natural calamity. It's torture.