1
as in persecuted
to cause persistent suffering to
the neighbor's dog constantly tortures our cat, barking at him and chasing him down the street
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in distorted
to twist (something) out of a natural or normal shape or condition
tortured her naturally straight hair into curls
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in tormented
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Recent Examples of tortured
Carson Blackwelder, People.com, 15 Sep. 2025
Panday plays a convincingly gruff tortured artist alongside Padda’s struggling ingenue, and most of the screen time is devoted to their pairing instead of introducing tertiary excess.
—Proma Khosla, IndieWire, 13 Sep. 2025
But there’s also something quite tortured about Douglas Kelly.
—Mike Fleming Jr, Deadline, 8 Sep. 2025
Swift making herself into a tortured poet trying to outdo a pretentious, typewriter-wielding ex.
—Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 4 Sep. 2025
Co-starring Andrew Scott as Rodgers and Margaret Qualley as a semi-fictionalized admirer of the closeted Hart, Blue Moon promises to be a wrenching look at a complex and tortured songwriter, with stunning performances to boot.
—Samantha Allen, Them., 2 Sep. 2025
From the Enterprise, everyone watches as the Jikaru finds a peaceful end to her tortured existence.
—Keith Phipps, Vulture, 28 Aug. 2025
Everyone was surprised when these two got together in 2023 — the tortured poet and the football jock.
—Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 27 Aug. 2025
For Tegna, the Nexstar purchase would end a rather tortured corporate journey over the last few years.
—Howard Homonoff, Forbes.com, 20 Aug. 2025
Christine Pelisek, PEOPLE, 23 Sep. 2025
Customers rarely remember the exact response time, unless they were tortured with on-repeat elevator music.
—Tayfun Bilsel, Forbes.com, 16 Sep. 2025
Birkin adored the baby but was tortured by her husband’s coldness.
—Anahid Nersessian, New Yorker, 15 Sep. 2025
Soliman fled to the United States in 2014 on a visitor visa and later filed a petition for asylum, describing how security forces over the years had locked him up on false charges and tortured him with electrical shocks.
—Hannah Allam, ProPublica, 10 Sep. 2025
From another room, the mechanic hears him dragging his leg and knows deep in his bones that this is the man who tortured him in prison.
—Anne Thompson, IndieWire, 10 Sep. 2025
That’s partly because the defendants were tortured in secret CIA prisons, so there are ongoing legal fights over what evidence is admissible.
—NPR, 10 Sep. 2025
The use of El Salvador's CECOT prison was denounced by human rights groups and Democrats in Congress for its reputation as a place where prisoners were tortured and never released.
—Dan Gooding, MSNBC Newsweek, 9 Sep. 2025
Ari is aimless and has made the executive decision to wean himself off his antidepressants; Sam is tortured by the prospect of going straight from college into a boring and unfulfilling career at Morgan Stanley.
—Hershal Pandya, Vulture, 8 Sep. 2025
Verb
Isaacs plays Timothy, the tortured patriarch of the Ratliff family, on season 3 of The White Lotus.
—Carson Blackwelder, People.com, 15 Sep. 2025
Panday plays a convincingly gruff tortured artist alongside Padda’s struggling ingenue, and most of the screen time is devoted to their pairing instead of introducing tertiary excess.
—Proma Khosla, IndieWire, 13 Sep. 2025
But there’s also something quite tortured about Douglas Kelly.
—Mike Fleming Jr, Deadline, 8 Sep. 2025
Swift making herself into a tortured poet trying to outdo a pretentious, typewriter-wielding ex.
—Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 4 Sep. 2025
Co-starring Andrew Scott as Rodgers and Margaret Qualley as a semi-fictionalized admirer of the closeted Hart, Blue Moon promises to be a wrenching look at a complex and tortured songwriter, with stunning performances to boot.
—Samantha Allen, Them., 2 Sep. 2025
From the Enterprise, everyone watches as the Jikaru finds a peaceful end to her tortured existence.
—Keith Phipps, Vulture, 28 Aug. 2025
Everyone was surprised when these two got together in 2023 — the tortured poet and the football jock.
—Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 27 Aug. 2025
For Tegna, the Nexstar purchase would end a rather tortured corporate journey over the last few years.
—Howard Homonoff, Forbes.com, 20 Aug. 2025
Adjective
Prosecutors said Grimes was beaten to death and tortured, suffering from multiple lacerations to her head, two black eyes, and a broken arm, ribs and nose.
—Christine Pelisek, PEOPLE, 23 Sep. 2025
Customers rarely remember the exact response time, unless they were tortured with on-repeat elevator music.
—Tayfun Bilsel, Forbes.com, 16 Sep. 2025
Birkin adored the baby but was tortured by her husband’s coldness.
—Anahid Nersessian, New Yorker, 15 Sep. 2025
Soliman fled to the United States in 2014 on a visitor visa and later filed a petition for asylum, describing how security forces over the years had locked him up on false charges and tortured him with electrical shocks.
—Hannah Allam, ProPublica, 10 Sep. 2025
From another room, the mechanic hears him dragging his leg and knows deep in his bones that this is the man who tortured him in prison.
—Anne Thompson, IndieWire, 10 Sep. 2025
That’s partly because the defendants were tortured in secret CIA prisons, so there are ongoing legal fights over what evidence is admissible.
—NPR, 10 Sep. 2025
The use of El Salvador's CECOT prison was denounced by human rights groups and Democrats in Congress for its reputation as a place where prisoners were tortured and never released.
—Dan Gooding, MSNBC Newsweek, 9 Sep. 2025
Ari is aimless and has made the executive decision to wean himself off his antidepressants; Sam is tortured by the prospect of going straight from college into a boring and unfulfilling career at Morgan Stanley.
—Hershal Pandya, Vulture, 8 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tortured
Verb
-
Leatherface attacks, but the real villains turn out to be the townsfolk who persecuted the Sawyers after the original massacre.—
Declan Gallagher,
Entertainment Weekly,
21 Sep. 2025
-
In Nazi Germany, transgender people were persecuted, barred from public life.—
Jackson Thompson,
FOXNews.com,
17 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
Instead, his big reveal on Monday offered families distorted science, false hope, and unproven and at times dangerous medical advice.—
Lisa Jarvis,
Mercury News,
25 Sep. 2025
-
So much of what our protagonist experiences is distorted through levels of paranoia, hallucination or physical impossibility.—
Peter Debruge,
Variety,
18 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
Several investigations and studies revealed the facility was plagued with poor infrastructure and mismanagement, rapes, assaults, and allegations of medical malpractice.—
PJ Green
September 24,
Kansas City Star,
24 Sep. 2025
-
The rotation is relying on young arms, and injuries have plagued the team.—
Aaliyan Mohammed,
MSNBC Newsweek,
23 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
Both of the Yunxian skulls were deformed from millennia spent underground, but the second, known as Yunxian 2, was better preserved.—
Katie Hunt,
CNN Money,
25 Sep. 2025
-
Some of her concerns exist because the pipeline sits in the open water of the Great Lakes and has been damaged multiple times by ship’s anchors, is subject to corrosion, and has been found to be bent and deformed by the extremely powerful currents in the Straits of Mackinac.—
Mike Shriberg,
The Conversation,
22 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
The Broncos beat up, bruised, harassed and downright punished Herbert from the start.—
Parker Gabriel,
Denver Post,
22 Sep. 2025
-
Some writers who criticized Taylor Swift reported that they and their family members had been threatened, harassed, and doxed.—
Kelefa Sanneh,
New Yorker,
25 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Just look at poverty, violence and health and housing inequities that have long afflicted Fairhill and West Kensington, two adjacent and heavily Puerto Rican neighborhoods in North Philadelphia.—
Héctor M. Varela Rios,
The Conversation,
8 Sep. 2025
-
Griffin, who does clinical work in Long Island, New York, said his sister-in-law is in her 40s and quite wary of long COVID, the enduring, debilitating health issues that have afflicted millions of Americans who contracted the coronavirus.—
Jorge L. Ortiz,
USA Today,
5 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
Even an otherwise neutral comment can be contorted into a sarcastic retort, an insult or a counterattack.—
Mark Travers,
Forbes.com,
7 Sep. 2025
-
Yet part of the force of it is that Michôd has not contorted Christy Martin’s life into some false arc; what was going on beneath her triumph is portrayed with a desperate and idiosyncratic honesty.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
6 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Some affiliates of both Nexstar and Sinclair had been inundated with calls from frustrated Kimmel fans in recent days.—
Brian Stelter,
CNN Money,
26 Sep. 2025
-
In another moment during his press conference, Williams spoke about being less frustrated this season, so far, compared to his rookie season.—
Matthew Couden,
MSNBC Newsweek,
25 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Tortured.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tortured. Accessed 1 Oct. 2025.
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