torture
/ˈtoːt͡ʃə/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.15 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The infliction of severe pain or anguish, especially as an interrogation technique or punishment; (usually in the plural) a technique, method, or device which is designed to inflict such anguish.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
The infliction of severe pain or anguish, especially as an interrogation technique or punishment; (usually in the plural) a technique, method, or device which is designed to inflict such anguish.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
An unpleasant sensation or its infliction: embarrassment, heartache, etc.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "People confess to anything under torture."
- "Using large dogs to attack bound, hand-cuffed prisoners is clearly torture."
- "What new tortures await me?"
- "If Cheney calls it enhanced interrogation, he argues, this still doesn’t change the meaning of the word torture, which Cheney and the public know perfectly well. But cognitive linguists like Lakoff (1996) remind us that the public can be manipulated into believing that torture is “merely” an enhanced interrogation technique and thus does not protest."
- "Santorum, in a comment regarding Senator John McCain's repudiation of torture, stated, "He doesn't understand how enhanced interrogation works. I mean, you break somebody, and after they've broken they become cooperative" (Summers 2011)."
- "cock and ball torture"
Etymology
From Middle English torture, from Old French torture, from Late Latin tortūra (“a twisting, writhing, of bodily pain, a griping colic;” in Medieval Latin “pain inflicted by judicial or ecclesiastical authority as a means of persuasion, torture”), from Latin tortus (whence also tort), past participle of torquēre (“to twist”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *terkʷ-, torture, tortūra, tortus
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈtoːt͡ʃə/
- British English: /ˈtɔːt͡ʃə/