I. tor ‧ ture 1 /ˈtɔːtʃə $ ˈtɔːrtʃər/ BrE AmE noun [uncountable and countable]
[ Date: 1500-1600 ; Language: French ; Origin: Late Latin tortura , from Latin tortus 'twisted' , from torquere ; ⇨ ↑ torque ]
1 . an act of deliberately hurting someone in order to force them to tell you something, to punish them, or to be cruel:
He died after five days of excruciating torture.
2 . severe physical or mental suffering:
The waiting must be torture for you.
II. torture 2 BrE AmE verb [transitive]
1 . to deliberately hurt someone in order to force them to give you information, to punish them, or to be cruel:
Political opponents of the regime may be tortured.
2 . if a feeling or knowledge tortures you, it makes you suffer a lot mentally SYN torment :
Rachel sat alone for hours at home, tortured by jealousy.
—torturer noun [countable]