torture. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

torture

SYLLABICATION:	tor·ture
PRONUNCIATION:	tôrchr
NOUN:	1a. Infliction of severe physical pain as a means of punishment or coercion. b. An instrument or a method for inflicting such pain. 2. Excruciating physical or mental pain; agony: the torture of waiting in suspense. 3. Something causing severe pain or anguish.
TRANSITIVE VERB:	Inflected forms: tor·tured, tor·tur·ing, tor·tures 1. To subject (a person or an animal) to torture. 2. To bring great physical or mental pain upon (another). See synonyms at afflict. 3. To twist or turn abnormally; distort: torture a rule to make it fit a case.
ETYMOLOGY:	Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin tortra, from Latin tortus, past participle of torqure, to twist. See terk^w- in Appendix I.
OTHER FORMS:	tortur·er —NOUN


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.