1
as in nightmare
a situation or state that causes great suffering and unhappiness
it's torture for me to see you so unhappy
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in agony
a state of great suffering of body or mind
spent an afternoon in torture waiting to hear whether her brother had made it home safely
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in to plague
to cause persistent suffering to
the neighbor's dog constantly tortures our cat, barking at him and chasing him down the street
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2
as in to distort
to twist (something) out of a natural or normal shape or condition
tortured her naturally straight hair into curls
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Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of torture
Melissa Quinn, CBS News, 27 May 2025
Police reportedly recovered a gun and several torture devices, per WNBC and WABC.
—Raven Brunner, People.com, 25 May 2025
Dani Di Placido, Forbes.com, 26 May 2025
But when the Emperor tortures Luke for rejecting the dark side, Vader musters up his last shred of humanity and kills his former master to protect his son.
—Nick Romano, EW.com, 25 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for torture
Noun
Reasonable fear interviews typically assess whether a migrant can stay in the U.S. because of a risk of persecution or torture.
—Melissa Quinn, CBS News, 27 May 2025
Police reportedly recovered a gun and several torture devices, per WNBC and WABC.
—Raven Brunner, People.com, 25 May 2025
Verb
Spoilers Ahead What Happens In The Season 2 Finale Of ‘The Last Of Us’?
Having tortured a couple of words out of Nora (Tati Gabrielle) in a previous episode, Ellie now has a clue about Abby’s whereabouts.
—Dani Di Placido, Forbes.com, 26 May 2025
But when the Emperor tortures Luke for rejecting the dark side, Vader musters up his last shred of humanity and kills his former master to protect his son.
—Nick Romano, EW.com, 25 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for torture
Recent Examples of Synonyms for torture
Noun
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For rule-followers like me, the prankster types were a nightmare.—
Stephanie Sengwe,
People.com,
7 June 2025
-
Left-hander Reid Detmers, whose three-game nightmare stretch a month ago began with a game in Seattle, struck out two in a scoreless inning, including Mariners star Cal Raleigh.—
Jeff Fletcher,
Oc Register,
7 June 2025
Noun
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And that gave him some kind of legitimacy after 40 years of agony, derided by the music press.—
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
11 June 2025
-
For more than a year, the Perry family waited in agony for answers.—
Christina Coulter,
People.com,
7 June 2025
Verb
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The wallet aims to solve cross-border payment challenges that have long plagued African creators.—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
5 June 2025
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Inside a Palm Beach County courtroom, Judge Kathleen Kroll is trying to tackle a problem that has plagued Florida schools in recent years: An alarming number of students aren’t showing up for school.—
Scott Travis,
Sun Sentinel,
5 June 2025
Verb
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Noise can distort observations and introduce uncertainties into the data, Zhang said.—
Ashley Strickland,
CNN Money,
6 June 2025
-
The history of financial regulation has clarified the problems with this approach, but somehow that history still gets badly distorted.—
Norbert Michel,
Forbes.com,
4 June 2025
Noun
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In a season full of misery and a historic number of losses, there was plenty of reason to celebrate Colorado’s first walk-off win.—
Patrick Saunders,
Denver Post,
12 June 2025
-
Greta’s missed opportunity to understand the deep roots of this misery is another lesson lost to the world.—
Boston Herald editorial staff,
Boston Herald,
11 June 2025
Noun
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That places an onerous burden on Henson, doing her considerable best trying to sustain a role whose Job-like travails crank the distress level to 11 too soon.—
Dennis Harvey,
Variety,
6 June 2025
-
The report highlights research on young adults that shows that trans students who participate in collegiate sports are less likely to experience distress, self-harm and suicidal thoughts.—
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy,
USA Today,
6 June 2025
Verb
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In 1968 a Jewish Dutch woman named Selma Vos was persecuted to death along with her husband, Cao Richang, an eminent psychologist who had helped found the Institute of Psychology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.—
Nan Z. Da
June 10,
Literary Hub,
10 June 2025
-
Abrego Garcia was subject to a 2019 withholding order by a judge forbidding his removal to El Salvador because of concerns he would be persecuted there.—
Dan Mangan,
CNBC,
6 June 2025
Noun
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Women, in particular, have reported a harrowing array of abuses: invasive searches, threats to their children, forced nudity and psychological torment.—
Antonio Maria Delgado,
Miami Herald,
20 May 2025
-
His independent investigations lead him to a supernatural serial killer (Harry Treadaway), who will seemingly stop at nothing to torment Hodges.—
EW.com,
EW.com,
23 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Torture.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/torture. Accessed 18 Jun. 2025.
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