Torment
['tɔːment] or ['tɔrmɛnt]
Definition
(verb.) torment emotionally or mentally.
(verb.) treat cruelly; 'The children tormented the stuttering teacher'.
Typist: Lucinda--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) An engine for casting stones.
(n.) Extreme pain; anguish; torture; the utmost degree of misery, either of body or mind.
(n.) That which gives pain, vexation, or misery.
(v. t.) To put to extreme pain or anguish; to inflict excruciating misery upon, either of body or mind; to torture.
(v. t.) To pain; to distress; to afflict.
(v. t.) To tease; to vex; to harass; as, to be tormented with importunities, or with petty annoyances.
(v. t.) To put into great agitation.
Checked by Cindy
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Anguish, agony, torture, rack, pang, extreme pain, excruciating pain, acute distress.
v. a. [1]. Torture, distress, agonize, rack, excruciate, pain extremely, put to the rack, put to torture.[2]. Tease, vex, plague, harass, worry, harry, badger, fret, irritate, nettle, provoke, tantalize, trouble, annoy.
Typist: Meg
Definition
n. torture: anguish: that which causes pain.—v.t. Torment′ to torture: to put to extreme pain physical or mental: to distress: to afflict.—p.adj. Tormen′ted (U.S.) a euphemism for damned.—adj. Tormen′ting causing torment.—adv. Tormen′tingly in a tormenting manner.—ns. Tormen′tor -er one who or that which torments: (B.) a torturer an executioner: a long meat-fork: a wing in the first groove of a stage; Tormen′tum a whirligig.
Edited by Jeffrey
Examples
- I think I've hearn tell o' the Lord, and the judgment and torment. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- The flag drops and covers the eyes of the animal so that he is at a loss what to do; it is jerked from him and the torment is renewed. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- She was exposed to every stare, she passed on through a stretch of torment. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Nay, Madam, said Adrian, unless my sister consent never to see him again, it is surely an useless torment to separate them for a month. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- It was a torment to her when anybody spoke to her. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- He would have thought, even if there were no such design as that, had he brought him there to play with his repressed emotions, and torment him? Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- He seemed to believe in education through subjection and torment. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- This idea pursued me, and tormented me at every moment from which I might otherwise have snatched repose and peace. Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- I could swear to this hand anywhere; but how you have tormented me to-night, said Meyler. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- I feel somewhat anxious to know, being a little tormented with uncertainty as to how I stand with her. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Why, had I been Nero himself, I could not have tormented a being inoffensive as a shadow. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- She felt tormented and dark. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Through all these rapid visions, there ran an undefined, uneasy consciousness of pain, which wearied and tormented him incessantly. Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- It tells how they was stoned and sawn asunder, and wandered about in sheep-skins and goat-skins, and was destitute, afflicted, tormented. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- The brooding Lammle, with certain white dints coming and going in his palpitating nose, looked as if some tormenting imp were pinching it. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- It is so tormenting, so racking, and it burns away our strength with its flame. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- The art of being cruel, kind, merry, sad, delightful, yet tormenting. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- I do assure you, sir, that I have no pretensions whatever to that kind of elegance which consists in tormenting a respectable man. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- His lordship's extreme gentleness of disposition appeared very attractive when set in contrast with Meyler's tormenting, dogged humour. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- The tormenting humour which was dominant there stopped them both. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- I have had her before me all this time, finding no pleasure in anything but keeping me as miserable, suspicious, and tormenting as herself. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- I catch him coming on post, again pass him as unaware of his existence, and again he undergoes grinding torments. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- I have been in torments ever since I stopped short of it before. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- What torments they are, yet we can't do without them, he said, pinching her cheeks good-humoredly. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- She suffered torments hearing his firm tread going so distinctly down the road. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Those among you who were prisoners in England can tell their comrades what frightful torments they suffered on board the English hulks. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- I understand he is going to the Duke of Devonshire's dress party, and the idea torments me wretchedly. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- Then we face one another, and I pass him as unaware of his existence, and he undergoes grinding torments. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
Editor: Marilyn