Spanish torture
- noun
- Informal
:
tortura española
- That three-hour exam felt like Spanish torture to everyone in the class.
Examples
-
Waiting in line for hours is pure Spanish torture.
-
He called the tedious bureaucratic process a kind of Spanish torture.
-
Enduring another one of her boring stories was pure Spanish torture.
-
This math problem feels like Spanish torture!
-
Enduring another one of her boring stories was pure Spanish torture.
-
He called the tedious bureaucratic process a kind of Spanish torture.
-
That three-hour exam felt like Spanish torture to everyone in the class.
Synonyms
135
3.9
A very strong physical or mental pain
A slow, very annoying experience that makes you feel anxious, like drops falling again and again
Antonyms
How Distressing
- Offensive
137
7.2
240
3.6
- Informal
119
3.2
26
2.8
62
3.6
Surface Forms
Morphology
A B1 learner who knows 'Spanish' and 'torture' will readily grasp that the phrase refers to something very unpleasant because 'torture' supplies the core meaning of extreme suffering; thus the general idea is inferable. However, the modifier 'Spanish' does not contribute a stable, predictable meaning (it functions as a vague intensifier or cultural tag rather than a compositional element), and the expression is not a fully conventionalized idiom, so full predictability is limited.
Etymology
Spanish torture may come from old stories about harsh punishments in Spain, where the word torture creates a strong image of pain. That's why people now use Spanish torture to jokingly mean a very unpleasant or 'frustrating' experience.