torture
noun (torture — uncountable; a torture); verb (torture, tortures, tortured, torturing)
Everyday
- Causing great pain to someone on purpose, to punish them or make them say something. tree →
- (verb) To hurt someone in this way. tree →
- (informal, joking) Something very unpleasant or boring: this traffic is torture. tree →
In the lessons
In history lessons torture was used in the past and is now against international law. In everyday talk children use it as a joke: waiting for the holidays is torture. Phrases: sheer torture, torture chamber.
Examples
- Torture is against the law in almost every country. tree →
- The castle had an old torture chamber. tree →
- Waiting in the queue was torture. tree →
- Stop torturing your sister with that silly song! tree →
- Long car journeys are torture for my little brother. tree →
- He was tortured by doubts about his choice. tree →
- "Perhaps they'll take to torturing me too!" tree →
Note
The joking sense is common but the real sense is very serious. Adjective torturous (painful), not to be confused with tortuous (twisty, full of bends).
On Mova
- Trees and pragmatics of «torture» in the school dictionary: every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- «torture» in the school dictionary on Mova free.
This page in Markdown → https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/torture/