(~s, torturing, ~d)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
If someone is ~d, 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 ~d and killed...
They never again ~d a prisoner in his presence.
VERB: be V-ed, V n
•
Torture is also a noun.
...alleged cases of ~ and murder by the security forces...
N-VAR
2.
To ~ someone means to cause them to suffer mental pain or anxiety.
He would not ~ her further by trying to argue with her...
She ~d herself with fantasies of Bob and his new girlfriend.
= torment
VERB: V n, V pron-refl
3.
If you say that something is ~ or a ~, you mean that it causes you great mental or physical suffering. (INFORMAL)
Waiting for the result was ~...
N-UNCOUNT: also a N