torment
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English torment, from Old French torment, from Latin tormentum (“something operated by twisting”), from torquere (“to twist”).
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
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, Matthew 4:24:
- They brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments.
Synonyms[edit]
- See also Thesaurus:pain
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
extreme pain
|
Verb[edit]
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[1]:
- 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 Aguero tormented Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand.
- 1913, Lewis Spence, chapter V, in The Myths of Mexico and Peru[2]:
- But the divine children were both noisy and mischievous. They tormented their venerable grandmother with their shrill uproar and tricky behaviour.
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
to cause severe suffering
Middle English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowed from Old French torment, from Latin tormentum.
Noun[edit]
torment (plural torments)
- torment (suffering, pain)
Descendants[edit]
- English: torment
Middle French[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Old French torment, from Latin tormentum.
Noun[edit]
torment m (plural torments)
Old French[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Noun[edit]
torment oblique singular, 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
- (figuratively, by extension) suffering; torment
Descendants[edit]
- Middle English: torment (borrowing)
- English: torment
- Middle French: torment, tourment
- French: tourment
References[edit]
- Etymology and history of “tourment”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Old Occitan[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Noun[edit]
torment m (nominative singular torments)
Descendants[edit]
- Occitan: torment
Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *terkʷ-
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɛnt
- Rhymes:English/ɛnt/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English heteronyms
- en:Emotions
- Middle English terms borrowed from Old French
- Middle English terms derived from Old French
- Middle English terms derived from Latin
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English nouns
- Middle French terms inherited from Old French
- Middle French terms derived from Old French
- Middle French terms inherited from Latin
- Middle French terms derived from Latin
- Middle French lemmas
- Middle French nouns
- Middle French masculine nouns
- Middle French countable nouns
- Old French terms inherited from Latin
- Old French terms derived from Latin
- Old French lemmas
- Old French nouns
- Old French masculine nouns
- Old French terms with quotations
- Old Occitan terms inherited from Latin
- Old Occitan terms derived from Latin
- Old Occitan lemmas
- Old Occitan nouns
- Old Occitan masculine nouns
- Old Occitan uncountable nouns