[syn: torture, excruciate, torment]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Torment \Tor"ment\, n. [OF. torment, F. tourment, fr. L.
tormentum an engine for hurling missiles, an instrument of
torture, a rack, torture, fr. torquere to turn, to twist,
hurl. See Turture.]
1. (Mil. Antiq.) An engine for casting stones. [Obs.] --Sir
T. Elyot.
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2. Extreme pain; anguish; torture; the utmost degree of
misery, either of body or mind. --Chaucer.
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The more I see
Pleasures about me, so much more I feel
Torment within me. --Milton.
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3. That which gives pain, vexation, or misery.
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They brought unto him all sick people that were
taken with divers diseases and torments. --Matt. iv.
24.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Torment \Tor*ment"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. tormented; p. pr. &
vb. n. tormenting.] [OF. tormenter, F. tourmenter.]
1. To put to extreme pain or anguish; to inflict excruciating
misery upon, either of body or mind; to torture. " Art
thou come hither to torment us before our time? " --Matt.
viii. 29.
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2. To pain; to distress; to afflict.
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Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy,
grievously tormented. --Matt. viii.
6.
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3. To tease; to vex; to harass; as, to be tormented with
importunities, or with petty annoyances. [Colloq.]
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4. To put into great agitation. [R.] "[They], soaring on main
wing, tormented all the air." --Milton.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
torment
n 1: unbearable physical pain [syn: torture, torment]
2: extreme mental distress [syn: anguish, torment,
torture]
3: intense feelings of suffering; acute mental or physical pain;
"an agony of doubt"; "the torments of the damned" [syn:
agony, torment, torture]
4: a feeling of intense annoyance caused by being tormented; "so
great was his harassment that he wanted to destroy his
tormentors" [syn: harassment, torment]
5: a severe affliction [syn: curse, torment]
6: the act of harassing someone [syn: badgering, worrying,
torment, bedevilment]
v 1: torment emotionally or mentally [syn: torment, torture,
excruciate, rack]
2: treat cruelly; "The children tormented the stuttering
teacher" [syn: torment, rag, bedevil, crucify, dun,
frustrate]
3: subject to torture; "The sinners will be tormented in Hell,
according to the Bible" [syn: torture, excruciate,
torment]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
277 Moby Thesaurus words for "torment":
abuse, afflict, affliction, aggravate, aggrieve, agonize,
agonizingness, agony, ail, anguish, annoy, annoyance, annoyer,
atrocious pain, badger, badgerer, bait, bane, be at, be the matter,
bedevil, befoul, beset, bewitch, bite, blight, bloody, bother,
break down, bring to tears, bristle, brown off, bug, bugbear,
bully, bullyrag, burden, burn, burn up, calamity, chafe, chevy,
chivy, claw, clawing, complicate matters, concern, condemn,
confinement, convulse, corrupt, cruciation, crucifixion, crucify,
crush, crushing burden, curse, cut, cut up, damage, death, defile,
deprave, desolate, desolateness, desolation, despoil, destroy,
destruction, devil, disadvantage, discommode, discompose, disease,
dismemberment, disserve, distemper, distress, disturb,
do a mischief, do evil, do ill, do wrong, do wrong by, dog, doom,
draw tears, embitter, envenom, estrapade, evil, exasperate,
excruciate, excruciatingness, excruciation, exercise, fash, fester,
fret, fretting, gall, galleys, get, get into trouble, give pain,
gnaw, grate, grievance, grieve, grind, gripe, harass, harasser,
harassment, hard labor, harm, harrier, harrow, harry, haunt,
heartbreak, heartsickness, heckle, heckler, hector, hell,
hell upon earth, hex, holocaust, horror, hound, hunt, hurt, impair,
impale, impalement, imprisonment, incarceration, inconvenience,
infect, inflame, inflict pain, infliction, injure, inundate, irk,
irritate, irritation, jailing, jinx, keelhauling, kill by inches,
lacerate, laceration, lancinate, lancination, macerate, maltreat,
martyr, martyrdom, martyrization, martyrize, menace, miff, misery,
mistreat, molest, nag, needle, needling, nemesis, nettle,
nightmare, nip, nudnik, nudzh, nuisance, open wound, oppress,
ordeal, outrage, overwhelm, pain, painfulness, passion, peeve,
penal servitude, perplex, persecute, persecution, persecutor,
perturb, pest, pester, pesterer, pestilence, pick on, picketing,
pierce, pinch, pique, plague, plaguer, play havoc with,
play hob with, pluck the beard, poison, pollute, pother, prejudice,
prick, prolong the agony, prostrate, provoke, punish, purgatory,
pursue, put out, put to it, put to torture, puzzle, rack,
railriding, rankle, rasp, ride, rile, rip, rock pile, roil, rub,
ruffle, running sore, sadist, savage, scarify, scathe, scourge,
smite, sorrow, stab, sting, strappado, suffering, taint,
tar-and-feathering, tease, teaser, the gantlet, thorn, threaten,
tormentingness, tormentor, torture, torturousness, trouble, try,
try the patience, tweak, tweak the nose, twist, vex, vexation,
victimize, violate, visitation, woe, worriedness,
worries and cares, worriment, worry, worrying, wound,
wreak havoc on, wretchedness, wring, wrong
Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary:
Torment
Gr. basanos (Matt. 4:24), the "touch-stone" of justice; hence
inquisition by torture, and then any disease which racks and
tortures the limbs.