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

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

torment

SYLLABICATION:	tor·ment
PRONUNCIATION:	tôrmnt
NOUN:	1. Great physical pain or mental anguish. 2. A source of harassment, annoyance, or pain. 3. The torture inflicted on prisoners under interrogation.
TRANSITIVE VERB:	Inflected forms: tor·ment·ed, tor·ment·ing, tor·ments (tôr-mnt, tôrmnt)1. To cause to undergo great physical pain or mental anguish. See synonyms at afflict. 2. To agitate or upset greatly. 3. To annoy, pester, or harass.
ETYMOLOGY:	Middle English, from Old French, from Latin tormentum, from torqure, to twist. See terk^w- in Appendix I.
OTHER FORMS:	tor·menting·ly —ADVERB


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.