1
as in nightmare
a situation or state that causes great suffering and unhappiness
it's torture for me to see you so unhappy
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in agony
a state of great suffering of body or mind
spent an afternoon in torture waiting to hear whether her brother had made it home safely
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in to plague
to cause persistent suffering to
the neighbor's dog constantly tortures our cat, barking at him and chasing him down the street
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to distort
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
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of torture
Dennis Romero, NBC news, 19 Jan. 2026
Forget the torture of Erewhon smoothies that hurt your tastebuds.
—Food Editor, Los Angeles Times, 18 Jan. 2026
Keith McNally, Vanity Fair, 20 Jan. 2026
Compared with the eight million Venezuelans who had fled the country, the nearly twenty thousand who had been detained for political reasons, the thousands who had been extrajudicially executed, and the hundreds who had been tortured, the deaths of a few dozen people seemed of little significance.
—Oriana Van Praag, New Yorker, 20 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for torture
Noun
They were characterized by cruelty, torture and an accountability-free reign.
—Dennis Romero, NBC news, 19 Jan. 2026
Forget the torture of Erewhon smoothies that hurt your tastebuds.
—Food Editor, Los Angeles Times, 18 Jan. 2026
Verb
When being tortured, name names.
—Keith McNally, Vanity Fair, 20 Jan. 2026
Compared with the eight million Venezuelans who had fled the country, the nearly twenty thousand who had been detained for political reasons, the thousands who had been extrajudicially executed, and the hundreds who had been tortured, the deaths of a few dozen people seemed of little significance.
—Oriana Van Praag, New Yorker, 20 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for torture
Recent Examples of Synonyms for torture
Noun
-
Not to be overly dramatic, but dressing up for the office is basically my nightmare.—
Jamie Allison Sanders,
PEOPLE,
30 Jan. 2026
-
That perfect life becomes a nightmare, or is revealed to have been one all along.—
Judy Berman,
Time,
30 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
That data may suffer from recency bias—the last memory of fans who enjoy part of a great match but eventually lose their seat is negative, whereas fans who waited for hours to get into the end of a great match may forget the agony of the wait.—
Lev Akabas,
Sportico.com,
30 Jan. 2026
-
One lives vicariously with the band through the agony of the days when creativity was limited by how much tape was available or how much space there was on a single album without making the perilous leap to double.—
Chris Jones,
Chicago Tribune,
29 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
And on the subject of filtering, or the lack thereof, Google has confirmed that a widespread issue this weekend is plaguing inboxes with spam — or worse.—
Zak Doffman,
Forbes.com,
25 Jan. 2026
-
Remaking his body to avoid the health issues that plagued his first two seasons, resulting in two years with a clean bill of health.—
Adam Grosbard,
Oc Register,
23 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Likewise, Guy Wolf, global head of market analytics at global financial services platform Marex, signaled that the price action in parts of the precious-metals complex has become increasingly distorted.—
Lee Ying Shan,
CNBC,
29 Jan. 2026
-
For years, social networks have been plagued by bot accounts which typically mimic human engagement to do things like pump cryptocurrency prices or distort public perception through amplifying hate speech.—
Anna Tong,
Forbes.com,
28 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
This week’s massive winter storm dumped more than a foot of snow on at least 19 states, including those like Texas and Tennessee that are less prepared to deal with the miseries of winter weather.—
Amy Feldman,
Forbes.com,
28 Jan. 2026
-
But apartheid brought immense unhappiness and misery to white South Africans, too.—
Eve Fairbanks,
The Dial,
27 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
The visits focus on loneliness and emotional distress, issues that many survivors say have intensified amid the war in Ukraine and rising antisemitism in the United States.—
Hannah Kliger,
CBS News,
28 Jan. 2026
-
The demonstrations, sparked by economic distress and anger at Iran’s clerical rulers, were met with a sweeping crackdown that activists say has killed thousands.—
Nik Popli,
Time,
28 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Open Doors is a global Christian charity supporting Christians persecuted for their faith.—
Paul Tilsley,
FOXNews.com,
28 Dec. 2025
-
Most commonly, people felt they were being persecuted via their electronics – that their Wi-Fi networks, computers or cellphones had been hacked or implanted with tracking devices.—
Alaina Vandervoort Burns,
The Conversation,
17 Dec. 2025
Verb
-
Basically, our government helped the rich get richer while working families got screwed.—
Ana María Archila,
New York Daily News,
30 Jan. 2026
-
There are other complications, of course — typical Marvel stuff — but even without them, Simon is still screwed.—
Nicholas Quah,
Vulture,
27 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Torture.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/torture. Accessed 1 Feb. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
