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. Edward Snowden:

   I've volunteered to go to prison with the government many times. What I won't do is I won't serve as a deterrent to people trying to do the right thing in difficult situations, so far, they've said they won't torture me, which is a start, I think, but we haven't gotten much further than that.

2. Mark Davis:

   And if you say like, look, I'm here to do charitable work for the orphanages, first of all, the fact that I'm an American, Is there a chance of some Russian guy going to be really p--sed and harass me? I don't know if they'd kill me or torture me, but I could certainly deal with being harassed by and large.

3. Nils Melzer:

   By failing to prosecute the crime of torture in CIA custody, the U.S. is in clear violation of the Convention against Torture and is sending a dangerous message of complacency and impunity to officials in the U.S. and around the world.

4. The Observatory:

   No fewer than 60,000 detainees were martyred ... either as a result of direct bodily torture, or denial of food and medicine.

5. Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi:

   There is no systematic torture, and if some cases have been reported, those are the acts of individuals who have misused their authority, and we are fully committed to investigate and arrest those individuals.