Especially, severe pain inflicted judicially, either as punishment for a crime, or for the purpose of extorting a confession from an accused person, as by water or fire, by the boot or thumbkin, or by the rack or wheel
subject to torture; "The sinners will be tormented in Hell, according to the Bible"
the act of torturing someone; "it required unnatural torturing to extract a confession"
intense feelings of suffering; acute mental or physical pain; "an agony of doubt"; "the torments of the damned"
The "suffering of the heart" imposed by one on another, as in personal relationships
If you say that something is torture or a torture, you mean that it causes you great mental or physical suffering. Waiting for the result was torture. Infliction of intolerable physical or psychological pain. Torture has been used by governments throughout history for punishment, coercion, and intimidation and for extracting confessions and information. A common practice in ancient times, it was defended by Aristotle but eloquently opposed by Cicero, Seneca, and St. Augustine. Beginning in the 12th century, torture was increasingly used in Europe; from the mid-14th through the 18th century it was a common part of the legal proceedings of most European countries. The Roman Catholic church supported its use by the Inquisition in cases of heresy. Common instruments of torture were the strappado (for repeatedly hoisting the body by the wrists behind the back and dropping it), the rack (for stretching the limbs and body), and the thumbscrew (for crushing the thumbs). By 1800 torture was illegal in many European countries, but it became common again in the 20th century, notably in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, and it is still widely practiced in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. In 1984 the United Nations adopted an international convention against torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment. By the early 21st century some 130 countries were party to the convention. The belief that only sadists are capable of committing torture was challenged by a study in the 1960s that found that ordinary people could be easily persuaded to inflict pain on others
the act of distorting something so it seems to mean something it was not intended to mean
To torture someone means to cause them to suffer mental pain or anxiety. He would not torture her further by trying to argue with her She tortured herself with fantasies of Bob and his new girlfriend. = torment
If someone is tortured, another person deliberately causes them great pain over a period of time, in order to punish them or to make them reveal information. French police are convinced that she was tortured and killed They never again tortured a prisoner in his presence. Torture is also a noun. alleged cases of torture and murder by the security forces