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torment

torment

60 5.6
Great physical or mental pain someone feels
  • noun
  • /ˈtɔrˌmɛnt/
  • NSFW
: tormento
  • Mr Speaker, as a mother, I cannot begin to imagine the pain and torment of losing a child.
  • suffer torment
  • inner torment
  • physical torment

That piece of cake was not at all worth the torment that I'm experiencing now.

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Examples

  • Until Jerry encouraged me to face the truth, I was in torment.

  • As the years went by, alone and isolated, the maid's torment grew worse.

  • Can you live with that amount of torment?

  • Her fear of sex made physical passion a torment even on her wedding night.

    Academic text (1994)
  • Lucy could not think about any torment more terrible than her own.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • No power on earth can give you back the lives lost, the pain suffered, the years of internal torment and anguish.

  • When bullying is ignored or downplayed, students suffer ongoing torment and harassment.

    Academic text (2008)
  • He took all that torment, all that agony, all that confusion and pain, and he transformed it into something beautiful.

  • Robyn stood stiff, her face a cold mask that belied the torment seething inside her.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • Mr Speaker, as a mother, I cannot begin to imagine the pain and torment of losing a child.

Synonyms

pain
vstorment
∞ 1.8

A deep sad feeling caused by losing someone or something

is broader, covering both deep sorrow and severe bodily suffering
hell
vstorment
  • Informal
630 3.7

A very painful or difficult experience

is the neutral description of severe pain or distress rather than metaphor
harassment
vstorment
385 4.6

Repeatedly annoying or frightening someone to upset them

is wider, including severe physical or mental suffering beyond repeated attacks
misery
vstorment
285 2.8

A feeling of great unhappiness and suffering

can also mean acute severe pain, not only long unhappiness
agony
vstorment
139 3.9

A very strong physical or mental pain

covers both such intense pain and longer lasting distress
torture
vstorment
  • Offensive
109 7.2

Very strong mental or physical pain that is hard to bear

is broader, covering severe suffering or the act of causing it
anguish
vstorment
79 6.8

A very strong, painful feeling of worry or sadness

includes this inner pain but also physical suffering and causing it
affliction
vstorment
45 6.7

A condition that causes great pain or suffering, often from illness

focuses more on the experience of suffering rather than its cause
purgatory
vstorment
26 9.0

A temporary state of painful waiting before things get better

is not limited to temporary stages and includes the act of causing pain
hell on earth
vstorment
  • Informal
18 6.8

A place or situation that causes great suffering and pain

is the basic term for severe suffering or the act that causes it
wretchedness
vstorment
3 7.1

A state of great unhappiness and suffering often caused by poverty

focuses more on intense suffering itself regardless of life conditions
crucifixion
vstorment
  • NSFW
3 9.3

Very painful suffering that feels like being punished or tortured

is the general notion of severe suffering beyond this specific punishment
Spanish torture
vstorment
  • Informal
1 9.9

A joking way to describe something very annoying or upsetting to experience

is the literal or serious sense of severe suffering rather than joking use
excruciation
vstorment
  • NSFW
1 9.9

The act of causing very severe pain to someone

is less focused on intensity as an extreme subtype of suffering
bedevilment
vstorment
1 8.9

Repeated acts that keep annoying or hurting someone

emphasizes severe suffering rather than ongoing annoyance or disturbance

Antonyms

497 1.0

A feeling of comfort when pain or worry goes away

288 1.0

A feeling of physical ease and being free from pain

Compounds

1 8.6

To make yourself feel sad or guilty on purpose by replaying past events

How Painful

agony
139 3.9
torment
  • NSFW
60 5.6
suffering
477 2.8
pain
∞ 1.8
discomfort
118 3.2

Surface Forms

torment singular
torments plural

Etymology

The word torment comes from the Latin tormentum, from a root meaning 'to twist'. Imagine pain as a physical 'twist' in the body or mind, so torment now means severe suffering.