tormentous

tormentous

English

Etymology

torment +‎ -ous

Adjective

tormentous (comparative more tormentous, superlative most tormentous)

1. (rare, dated) Involving or causing torment; having the nature of torture.[1]
   • 1756, Philip Francis (translator), Horace (author), "Ode 35: To Fortune" in A Poetical Translation of the Works of Horace, p. 129 (Google preview):

     Before thee stalks inexorable Fate,

     And grasps impailing nails and wedges dread,

     The hook tormentous and the melted lead.

   • 1870, The Annual Register, Volume 111, p. 264 (Google preview):

     [I]ts greed gave us years tormentous and horrible, like those of Ferdinand VII.

   • 1960 May, "The Loneliest Boy on Capital Hill", Ebony, vol. 15, no. 7, p. 58 (Google preview):

     Few adults could have survived the tormentous, agonizing heartbreak Jimmy endured.

   • 2006, Jubil Olebode Aka, Blacks Greatest Homeland: Nigeria Is Born Again, →ISBN, p. 12 (Google preview):

     In Nigeria in particular and Africa generally, there is no winter, no heat-wave, no iceberg, no volcanoes, no hail storms, no devastating wild fires, no tormentous tornadoes or thunderstorms, no deadly floods.

Synonyms

• tormenting, torturous

References

1. Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd ed., 2005.