transcription, транскрипция: [ tɔ:(r)tʃə(r) ]
( tortures, torturing, tortured)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
If someone is tortured , another person deliberately causes them great pain over a period of time, in order to punish them or to make them reveal information.
French police are convinced that she was tortured and killed...
They never again tortured a prisoner in his presence.
VERB : be V-ed , V n
•
Torture is also a noun.
...alleged cases of torture and murder by the security forces...
N-VAR
2.
To torture someone means to cause them to suffer mental pain or anxiety.
He would not torture her further by trying to argue with her...
She tortured herself with fantasies of Bob and his new girlfriend.
= torment
VERB : V n , V pron-refl
3.
If you say that something is torture or a torture , you mean that it causes you great mental or physical suffering. ( INFORMAL )
Waiting for the result was torture...
N-UNCOUNT : also a N