torture
noun
[ ˈtɔːtʃə ]
• the action or practice of inflicting severe pain or suffering on someone as a punishment or in order to force them to do or say something.
• "the torture of political prisoners"
torture
verb
• inflict severe pain or suffering on.
• "most of the victims had been brutally tortured"
Similar:
inflict pain on,
inflict suffering on,
torment,
ill-treat,
abuse,
mistreat,
maltreat,
molest,
scourge,
wound,
put someone on the rack,
persecute,
punish,
work over,
give someone the works,
Origin:
late Middle English (in the sense ‘distortion, twisting’, or a physical disorder characterized by this): via French from late Latin tortura ‘twisting, torment’, from Latin torquere ‘to twist’.
