waterboarding
32
9.9
- noun
- /ˈwɔːtərˌbɔːrdɪŋ/
- Offensive
- In 2008, CIA director Michael Hayden admitted to Congress that secret contractors employed by the CIA engaged in the waterboarding of terrorist suspects.
- waterboarding torture
- a waterboarding technique
- waterboarding (simulated drowning)
Loading YouTube…
Watch on YouTubeUsed to involve waterboarding but doesn't anymore.
- Used to involve waterboarding but doesn't anymore.
- Now she is a tough lady, somebody who watched waterboarding and and so forth.
- So I, I think this waterboarding will have nothing on what this can bring.
- And she came back to me after this episode, like you said of Mark execution and waterboarding.
Examples
-
Reports reveal that waterboarding can cause severe psychological harm to individuals subjected to it.
-
The use of waterboarding as an interrogation method has sparked a global debate on human rights.
-
At the heart of the controversy is a process called waterboarding.
-
Waterboarding is now the most infamous torture technique practiced by the administration of George W. Bush.
Academic text (2009) -
Hitchens concluded, "If waterboarding does not constitute torture, then there is no such thing as torture."
Blog text (9) -
Many legal experts agree that waterboarding constitutes torture under international law.
Synonyms
319
7.1
Severe physical or mental pain one person causes another to get information
6
8.3
An act that causes someone great pain and suffering on purpose
2
8.6
Deliberately causing severe pain to make someone give information
1
9.9
A way of torturing someone by pouring water over a cloth on the face to simulate drowning
Surface Forms
Morphology
waterboarding = waterboard (semi-transparent) = water + board + ing
The word is formed by the verb 'waterboard' + -ing; the components 'water' and 'board' are literal, but the precise specialized meaning (a torture technique: simulated drowning) is specific and not fully predictable from the parts for an average learner.
Etymology
Waterboarding is made from the everyday words water and board, and it describes pouring water over a person's face while they lie on a board so they feel like 'drowning'. So the name clearly describes this form of torture.