as in tormenters
a person who causes repeated emotional pain, distress, or annoyance to another
a sadistic torturer of men he regarded as weak, the drillmaster really had it in for one recruit
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Recent Examples of torturers
For decades, generals, coup-plotters, and torturers walked free under the shield of amnesty laws passed after the country’s 21-year dictatorship.
—
Julia Vargas Jones, CNN Money, 12 Sep. 2025
Each regime, from the Pahlavi dynasty to the Islamic Republic, claimed to uphold human rights and castigated its predecessors as torturers, only to ratchet up the incarceration of political opponents.
—Foreign Affairs, 22 Apr. 2025
Julia Vargas Jones, CNN Money, 12 Sep. 2025
Each regime, from the Pahlavi dynasty to the Islamic Republic, claimed to uphold human rights and castigated its predecessors as torturers, only to ratchet up the incarceration of political opponents.
—Foreign Affairs, 22 Apr. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for torturers
Noun
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The mind could wander briefly about the Giants riding a two-game winning streak into a Thursday Night Football matchup with the Eagles, equipped to knock off their tormentors who suddenly look vulnerable.—
Dan Duggan,
New York Times,
6 Oct. 2025
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There appears to be no limit to his sensitivity or his determination to humble his tormentors.—
David Remnick,
New Yorker,
19 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Peaky Blinders creator and writer Steven Knight is making good on his many teases that the story of the Shelby family would not end with the original TV series’ sixth season, nor the upcoming feature film.—
Nancy Tartaglione,
Deadline,
2 Oct. 2025
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Living together in the Fear House, a group of strangers face OMG stunts, challenges, and a twisted game of social strategy, Banijay teases.—
John Hopewell,
Variety,
29 Sep. 2025
Noun
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That is a nasty process which involves digging up Ambar’s still-fresh corpse, then subjecting it to various grisly indignities night after night as retribution gets visited upon our heroine’s persecutors.—
Dennis Harvey,
Variety,
6 Aug. 2025
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Using it to describe this week’s attack on Huwara – or other similar attacks in Israel or Palestine – effectively puts Israel in the place of the Jews’ historic persecutors.—
Joshua Shanes,
The Conversation,
6 Mar. 2023
Noun
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The attackers use a technique called SEO poisoning.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
29 Sep. 2025
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Approximately 50 soldiers guarding the vehicles attempted to repel the attackers, presidential spokesperson Carolina Jaramillo said, without specifying whether anyone was injured.—
Michael Rios,
CNN Money,
29 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Torturers.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/torturers. Accessed 7 Oct. 2025.
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