as in tormenters
a person who causes repeated emotional pain, distress, or annoyance to another
a sadistic torturer of men he regarded as weak, the drillmaster really had it in for one recruit
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Recent Examples of torturers
For decades, generals, coup-plotters, and torturers walked free under the shield of amnesty laws passed after the country’s 21-year dictatorship.
—
Julia Vargas Jones, CNN Money, 12 Sep. 2025
Each regime, from the Pahlavi dynasty to the Islamic Republic, claimed to uphold human rights and castigated its predecessors as torturers, only to ratchet up the incarceration of political opponents.
—Foreign Affairs, 22 Apr. 2025
Julia Vargas Jones, CNN Money, 12 Sep. 2025
Each regime, from the Pahlavi dynasty to the Islamic Republic, claimed to uphold human rights and castigated its predecessors as torturers, only to ratchet up the incarceration of political opponents.
—Foreign Affairs, 22 Apr. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for torturers
Noun
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Brown-Trickey was eventually suspended for standing up to her tormentors, while her white aggressors went unpunished.—
Time,
Time,
4 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Chu teases of the second movie's new numbers.—
Maureen Lee Lenker,
Entertainment Weekly,
10 Sep. 2025
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The trailer for the film teases that Perfidia was apprehended by law enforcement prior to the start of the movie's events, leaving Bob and Willa to go on the run and seek refuge with an ally, portrayed by Benicio del Toro.—
Bailey Richards,
PEOPLE,
8 Sep. 2025
Noun
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That is a nasty process which involves digging up Ambar’s still-fresh corpse, then subjecting it to various grisly indignities night after night as retribution gets visited upon our heroine’s persecutors.—
Dennis Harvey,
Variety,
6 Aug. 2025
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Using it to describe this week’s attack on Huwara – or other similar attacks in Israel or Palestine – effectively puts Israel in the place of the Jews’ historic persecutors.—
Joshua Shanes,
The Conversation,
6 Mar. 2023
Noun
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Instead of drowning in alerts or chasing attackers who are already inside the network, predictive systems aim to use machine learning, behavioral analysis and data mapping to forecast where vulnerabilities exist and which risks matter most.—
Tony Bradley,
Forbes.com,
16 Sep. 2025
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The trend shows that attackers can leverage emerging AI during the hacking process, including attack scenario planning, malware development, building their tools and to impersonate job recruiters, said Mun Chong-hyun, director at Genians.—
Nino Paoli,
Fortune,
14 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Torturers.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/torturers. Accessed 21 Sep. 2025.
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