TORMENT

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does torment mean? 

• TORMENT (noun)
  The noun TORMENT has 6 senses:

1. unbearable physical pain

2. extreme mental distress

3. intense feelings of suffering; acute mental or physical pain

4. a feeling of intense annoyance caused by being tormented

5. a severe affliction

6. the act of harassing someone

  Familiarity information: TORMENT used as a noun is common.

• TORMENT (verb)
  The verb TORMENT has 3 senses:

1. torment emotionally or mentally

2. treat cruelly

3. subject to torture

  Familiarity information: TORMENT used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TORMENT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Unbearable physical pain

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

torment; torture

Hypernyms ("torment" is a kind of...):

hurting; pain (a symptom of some physical hurt or disorder)

Derivation:

torment (subject to torture)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Extreme mental distress

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

anguish; torment; torture

Hypernyms ("torment" is a kind of...):

distress; hurt; suffering (psychological suffering)

Derivation:

torment (torment emotionally or mentally)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Intense feelings of suffering; acute mental or physical pain

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

agony; torment; torture

Context example:

the torments of the damned

Hypernyms ("torment" is a kind of...):

hurt; suffering (feelings of mental or physical pain)

Derivation:

torment (torment emotionally or mentally)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A feeling of intense annoyance caused by being tormented

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

harassment; torment

Context example:

so great was his harassment that he wanted to destroy his tormentors

Hypernyms ("torment" is a kind of...):

annoyance; chafe; vexation (anger produced by some annoying irritation)

Derivation:

torment (treat cruelly)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A severe affliction

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

curse; torment

Hypernyms ("torment" is a kind of...):

affliction (a cause of great suffering and distress)

Sense 6

Meaning:

The act of harassing someone

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

badgering; bedevilment; torment; worrying

Hypernyms ("torment" is a kind of...):

harassment; molestation (the act of tormenting by continued persistent attacks and criticism)

Derivation:

torment (treat cruelly)

• TORMENT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they torment ... he / she / it torments
Past simple: tormented   
Past participle: tormented   
-ing form: tormenting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Torment emotionally or mentally

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

excruciate; rack; torment; torture

Hypernyms (to "torment" is one way to...):

anguish; hurt; pain (cause emotional anguish or make miserable)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The bad news will torment him

Derivation:

torment (intense feelings of suffering; acute mental or physical pain)

torment (extreme mental distress)

tormenter; tormentor (someone who torments)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Treat cruelly

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

bedevil; crucify; dun; frustrate; rag; torment

Context example:

The children tormented the stuttering teacher

Hypernyms (to "torment" is one way to...):

beset; chevvy; chevy; chivvy; chivy; harass; harry; hassle; molest; plague; provoke (annoy continually or chronically)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "torment"):

madden (drive up the wall; go on someone's nerves)

hamstring (make ineffective or powerless)

badger; beleaguer; bug; pester; tease (annoy persistently)

oppress; persecute (cause to suffer)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

torment (the act of harassing someone)

torment (a feeling of intense annoyance caused by being tormented)

tormenter; tormentor (someone who torments)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Subject to torture

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

excruciate; torment; torture

Context example:

The sinners will be tormented in Hell, according to the Bible

Hypernyms (to "torment" is one way to...):

injure; wound (cause injuries or bodily harm to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "torment"):

rack (torture on the rack)

martyr; martyrise; martyrize (torture and torment like a martyr)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

They want to torment the prisoners

Derivation:

torment (unbearable physical pain)

tormenter (someone who torments)

 Context examples 

But I am sure she cannot mean to torment, for she is very much attached to my brother.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

The tormenting humour which was dominant there stopped them both.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It was a torment, this hand that touched him and violated his instinct.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

What torments they are, yet we can't do without them, he said, pinching her cheeks good-humoredly.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

It tormented his dreams at night.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I passed through torment that night, Collingwood.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This idea pursued me and tormented me at every moment from which I might otherwise have snatched repose and peace.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

I do assure you, sir, that I have no pretensions whatever to that kind of elegance which consists in tormenting a respectable man.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

I would fall asleep in the act of carrying food to my mouth and waken in torment to find the act yet uncompleted.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He was oppressed by the weight and the torment of this thing called life, and still more was he oppressed by the fear of death.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)