torment
English
Etymology
From Middle English torment, from Old French torment, from Latin tormentum (“something operated by twisting”), from torquere (“to twist”).
Pronunciation
- (noun) IPA(key): /ˈtɔː(ɹ)mɛnt/, /ˈtɔː(ɹ)mənt/
Audio (US) (file)
- (verb) IPA(key): /tɔː(ɹ)ˈmɛnt/
Audio (UK) (file) - Rhymes: -ɛnt
Noun
torment (countable and uncountable, plural torments)
- (obsolete) A catapult or other kind of war-engine.
- Torture, originally as inflicted by an instrument of torture.
- Any extreme pain, anguish or misery, either physical or mental.
- He was bitter from the torments of the divorce.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Matthew 4:24:
- They brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments.
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:pain
Derived terms
- tormentous
Translations
extreme pain
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Verb
torment (third-person singular simple present torments, present participle tormenting, simple past and past participle tormented)
- (transitive) To cause severe suffering to (stronger than to vex but weaker than to torture.)
- The child tormented the flies by pulling their wings off.
- 2013 September 22, Phil McNulty, “Man City 4-1 Man Utd”, in BBC Sport:
- Moyes, who never won a derby at Liverpool in 11 years as Everton manager, did not find the Etihad any more forgiving as City picked United apart in midfield, where Toure looked in a different class to United's £27.5m new boy Marouane Fellaini, and in defence as Aguerotormented Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand.
- 1913, Lewis Spence, chapter V, in The Myths of Mexico and Peru:
- But the divine children were both noisy and mischievous. They tormented their venerable grandmother with their shrill uproar and tricky behaviour.
Derived terms
- tormentor
Translations
to cause severe suffering
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Middle English
Etymology
Borrowed from Old French torment, from Latin tormentum.
Noun
torment (plural torments)
- torment (suffering, pain)
Descendants
- English: torment
Middle French
Alternative forms
- tourment
Etymology
From Old French torment, from Latin tormentum.
Noun
torment m (plural torments)
- torment; suffering; anguish
Old French
Alternative forms
- turment
Etymology
From Latin tormentum.
Noun
torment m (oblique plural tormenz or tormentz, nominative singular tormenz or tormentz, nominative plural torment)
- torture
- 13th century, Unknown, La Vie de Saint Laurent, page 11, column 1, line 19:
- Saint Lorenz dit torment ne dot
- Saint Laurence says he doesn't fear torture
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- (figuratively, by extension) suffering; torment
Descendants
- Middle English: torment (borrowing)
- English: torment
- Middle French: torment, tourment
- French: tourment
References
- Etymology and history of “tourment”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Old Occitan
Etymology
From Latin tormentum.
Noun
torment m (nominative singular torments)
- suffering; torment
Descendants
- Occitan: torment