as in tormented
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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
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Recent Examples of tortured
Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 7 Mar. 2026
Look, credit where credit is due, the man is good at a tortured love confession!
—Christina Grace Tucker, Vulture, 26 Feb. 2026
During the show’s wildly popular first season, Robby was treated as a swaggering, tortured heartthrob by the viewers who turned this HBO Max original into an Emmy-winning success.
—Esther Zuckerman, Vanity Fair, 20 Feb. 2026
Fennell cast Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff and Margot Robbie plays Cathy in this tale of childhood friends turned tortured lovers, kept apart by heartbreaking misunderstandings and their own destructive decisions.
—Jazz Tangcay, Variety, 14 Feb. 2026
The show, which was previously called Maud and has rolled cameras in London, is based on the short story collections by Swedish writer Helene Tursten and follows Maud Oldcastle, an old killer with a tortured past.
—Max Goldbart, Deadline, 11 Feb. 2026
According to Deadline, Charli will be possessed by a violent, tortured spirit in director Takashi Miike’s upcoming untitled slasher-horror film that is scheduled to start filming in Japan next month; the role was previously reported, but the details about the plot are new.
—Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 10 Feb. 2026
One of the mansion’s signature characters is, aptly, a tortured bride.
—Andrew J. Campa, Los Angeles Times, 5 Feb. 2026
Trapped there, Goggins manifests both versions of his character at once, flickering between flashbacks of the steady Cooper and the present-day, tortured Ghoul.
—Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 5 Feb. 2026
Don Riddell, CNN Money, 12 Mar. 2026
The former soldier also said Haitian police mentally and physically tortured the Colombian suspects after they were taken into custody.
—Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 9 Mar. 2026
Over the years, those proxies, including Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, the Houthis and more have murdered, raped, tortured and kidnapped thousands.
—Bobby Zirkin, Baltimore Sun, 8 Mar. 2026
In 1984 and 1985, Hezbollah terrorists hijacked two commercial aircraft and tortured and killed Americans who were on those flights.
—Susan Shelley, Oc Register, 7 Mar. 2026
According to media reports, Komarov — his first name spelled Igor — was the son of a wealthy Ukrainian businessman and was badly tortured by his kidnappers, who sought millions of dollars in ransom from his family.
—CBS News, 6 Mar. 2026
Political prisoners were tortured and executed in silence.
—Letters To The Editor, Washington Post, 6 Mar. 2026
Experts see positive trends Despite California’s long and tortured history with auto insurance, rates in the state remain below the national average.
—Kevinisha Walker, Los Angeles Times, 2 Mar. 2026
One of them was a person whose eight-month-old baby was tortured in front of his eyes.
—Cora Engelbrecht, New Yorker, 1 Mar. 2026
Adjective
Henshall is a hoot as the tortured inspector, though the series has recently taken on a new dimension with the addition of Ashley Jensen (so brilliant in Ricky Gervais’ Hollywood satire, Extras) as the formidable DI Ruth Calder.
—Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 7 Mar. 2026
Look, credit where credit is due, the man is good at a tortured love confession!
—Christina Grace Tucker, Vulture, 26 Feb. 2026
During the show’s wildly popular first season, Robby was treated as a swaggering, tortured heartthrob by the viewers who turned this HBO Max original into an Emmy-winning success.
—Esther Zuckerman, Vanity Fair, 20 Feb. 2026
Fennell cast Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff and Margot Robbie plays Cathy in this tale of childhood friends turned tortured lovers, kept apart by heartbreaking misunderstandings and their own destructive decisions.
—Jazz Tangcay, Variety, 14 Feb. 2026
The show, which was previously called Maud and has rolled cameras in London, is based on the short story collections by Swedish writer Helene Tursten and follows Maud Oldcastle, an old killer with a tortured past.
—Max Goldbart, Deadline, 11 Feb. 2026
According to Deadline, Charli will be possessed by a violent, tortured spirit in director Takashi Miike’s upcoming untitled slasher-horror film that is scheduled to start filming in Japan next month; the role was previously reported, but the details about the plot are new.
—Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 10 Feb. 2026
One of the mansion’s signature characters is, aptly, a tortured bride.
—Andrew J. Campa, Los Angeles Times, 5 Feb. 2026
Trapped there, Goggins manifests both versions of his character at once, flickering between flashbacks of the steady Cooper and the present-day, tortured Ghoul.
—Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 5 Feb. 2026
Verb
His fourth attempt was foiled when he was arrested at the airport and detained and tortured for several months.
—Don Riddell, CNN Money, 12 Mar. 2026
The former soldier also said Haitian police mentally and physically tortured the Colombian suspects after they were taken into custody.
—Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 9 Mar. 2026
Over the years, those proxies, including Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, the Houthis and more have murdered, raped, tortured and kidnapped thousands.
—Bobby Zirkin, Baltimore Sun, 8 Mar. 2026
In 1984 and 1985, Hezbollah terrorists hijacked two commercial aircraft and tortured and killed Americans who were on those flights.
—Susan Shelley, Oc Register, 7 Mar. 2026
According to media reports, Komarov — his first name spelled Igor — was the son of a wealthy Ukrainian businessman and was badly tortured by his kidnappers, who sought millions of dollars in ransom from his family.
—CBS News, 6 Mar. 2026
Political prisoners were tortured and executed in silence.
—Letters To The Editor, Washington Post, 6 Mar. 2026
Experts see positive trends Despite California’s long and tortured history with auto insurance, rates in the state remain below the national average.
—Kevinisha Walker, Los Angeles Times, 2 Mar. 2026
One of them was a person whose eight-month-old baby was tortured in front of his eyes.
—Cora Engelbrecht, New Yorker, 1 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tortured
Verb
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Making up between 8% to 17% of the country’s total population, Iran’s Kurdish minority has long been persecuted under the Islamic Republic.—
John Calabrese,
The Conversation,
7 Mar. 2026
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The mission said intelligence agencies routinely persecuted political adversaries, falsifying evidence to justify arrests and in some cases resorting to torture, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings.—
Antonio María Delgado,
Miami Herald,
25 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Some of the new generation is riffing on that in trying to be as distorted as possible just for the sake of it.—
Alphonse Pierre,
Pitchfork,
13 Mar. 2026
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Time in that video is completely distorted; events that are about to happen are referred to in the past tense.—
Fintan O’Toole,
The New York Review of Books,
13 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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When teachers became the complaint Several cases described teachers discussing their own political views on the latest Israel-Hamas war in ways that state investigators said foreseeably made Jewish students feel uncomfortable, harassed or targeted.—
Molly Gibbs,
Mercury News,
12 Jan. 2026
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The Broncos beat up, bruised, harassed and downright punished Herbert from the start.—
Parker Gabriel,
Denver Post,
22 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Wegmann said people tend to think of affordable housing in the context of the housing projects built in decades past, which, in some cases, were plagued by crime.—
Matthew Adams,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
9 Mar. 2026
-
Much of the Colorado River’s water begins as snow in Colorado’s mountains, which have been plagued by record-low snowfall this winter.—
Elise Schmelzer,
Denver Post,
9 Mar. 2026
Verb
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The mountains themselves are too deformed to hold hydrocarbons.—
Stephanie Pappas,
Scientific American,
6 Mar. 2026
-
Hadi tells an engaging story, brings complex and surprising characters to life, lends a locale an aesthetic iconography, and renders personal identity inextricable from the forces of history that shaped or deformed it.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
10 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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But instead, the young bride was wandering the streets of London in the June heat, frustrated and distraught.—
Moira Donegan,
New Yorker,
13 Mar. 2026
-
When do the cries of frustrated teachers and tens of thousands of children going without school instruction amount to a state crisis?—
Jennah Pendleton,
Sacbee.com,
12 Mar. 2026
Verb
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In New Zealand, Māori men are famously afflicted — by their eighties, nearly half may have (or have had) gout.—
Jan Steyn,
The Dial,
10 Mar. 2026
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Cabbages are afflicted by cabbage webworms, cabbage white moths, cabbage loopers, and other worms.—
Brandee Gruener,
Southern Living,
6 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Cross-country skiing is known for its attrition, an event that leaves its competitors foam-mouthed and slack-jawed; athletes of iron reduced to trembling and contorted shapes on the floor.—
Jacob Whitehead,
New York Times,
18 Feb. 2026
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For the entire 15-minute show, they’ve been contorted into pieces of furniture Lawson fabricated, pieces befitting something between an asylum and BDSM dungeon, and reminiscent of Allen Jones’s 1960s Pop sculpture series, which depicts fiberglass women in fetishware as home objects.—
Anna Peele,
Vanity Fair,
6 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Tortured.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tortured. Accessed 16 Mar. 2026.
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