1
as in nightmares
a situation or state that causes great suffering and unhappiness
it's torture for me to see you so unhappy
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in pains
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 plagues
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 distorts
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 tortures
David Bloom, Forbes.com, 17 Sep. 2025
Alexandra Rockey Fleming, PEOPLE, 14 Jan. 2026
Later, in one of the movie's most satisfying scenes, Millie locks Andrew in the attic and tortures him by loudly smashing each plate.
—Lauren Huff, Entertainment Weekly, 19 Dec. 2025
The mistake tortures them, which prompts the couple to try and solve the mystery by producing a fake play in an attempt to get their ex-neighbor Mary (Chloe Cherry) to audition.
—Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 3 Oct. 2025
The 1990 Kathy Bates-James Caan starrer remains one of Hollywood’s finest horror pieces, with Bates winning an Oscar for her role as the obsessive fan Annie Wilkes, who tortures author Paul Sheldon (Caan) while holding him hostage in her remote cabin.
—Deborah Wilker, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
Noun
Former Jews deemed insufficiently converted faced the Spanish Inquisition’s tortures.
—David Bloom, Forbes.com, 17 Sep. 2025
Verb
The retrospection tortures her.
—Alexandra Rockey Fleming, PEOPLE, 14 Jan. 2026
Later, in one of the movie's most satisfying scenes, Millie locks Andrew in the attic and tortures him by loudly smashing each plate.
—Lauren Huff, Entertainment Weekly, 19 Dec. 2025
The mistake tortures them, which prompts the couple to try and solve the mystery by producing a fake play in an attempt to get their ex-neighbor Mary (Chloe Cherry) to audition.
—Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 3 Oct. 2025
The 1990 Kathy Bates-James Caan starrer remains one of Hollywood’s finest horror pieces, with Bates winning an Oscar for her role as the obsessive fan Annie Wilkes, who tortures author Paul Sheldon (Caan) while holding him hostage in her remote cabin.
—Deborah Wilker, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tortures
Noun
-
Ilia Malinin’s collapse underscores the crushing psychological pressure of Olympic competition, which can turn childhood dreams into nightmares, even for elite athletes.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
14 Feb. 2026
-
Most of them are oddly charged, dramatically staged images meant to evoke dreams, nightmares, or fantasies.—
Vince Aletti,
New Yorker,
14 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
And not only through month-long vacations and pains au chocolat.—
Hannah Seligson,
Vanity Fair,
12 Feb. 2026
-
The Guy, as Sinclair is known on the show, sells to everyone, stressed-out 20-something assistant and cross-dressing stay-at-home dad alike, witnessing their private joys and pains and shortcomings and judging no one.—
Ezra Marcus,
Vulture,
11 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
The damned disease especially plagues Mexican American men like me, and many aren’t getting screened.—
Gustavo Arellano,
Los Angeles Times,
3 Feb. 2026
-
Similarly, programs that encourage regular movement and mental breaks help mitigate the burnout that often plagues high-growth teams.—
Serenity Gibbons,
Forbes.com,
29 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Today’s staged raid reinforces our conviction that this investigation distorts French law, circumvents due process, and endangers free speech.—
Melanie Goodfellow,
Deadline,
4 Feb. 2026
-
That pressure distorts the justice system.—
Jaime Huff,
Oc Register,
31 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Derry Girls, which followed teens in McGee’s native Derry in the years preceding 1998’s Good Friday Agreement, was a raucous, joke-dense show that juxtaposed mundane adolescent rites of passage with the daily horrors of life in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.—
Judy Berman,
Time,
13 Feb. 2026
-
Throughout, emotion churns and chafes against a backdrop of political unrest, corporate malfeasance, and the everyday horrors that erode modern life.—
Nina Corcoran,
Pitchfork,
13 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
In Russia, the civilian repressive apparatus persecutes the military, which leaps at every chance for revenge.—
Stephen Kotkin,
Foreign Affairs,
16 Dec. 2025
Verb
-
At this point, you’d be forgiven for expecting a straightforward werewolf story, but Cassidy’s novel stretches and contorts into something far stranger, more audacious, and ultimately, both heartbreaking and triumphant.—
Emma Alpern,
Vulture,
2 Dec. 2025
-
With an almost modern-day Charlie Chaplin-esque physicality, Moss dances, contorts, and frolics amongst the shoes, their boxes, and fixtures in the store for a mesmerizing, can't-look-away effect.—
Roxanne Robinson,
Forbes.com,
2 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Hadi’s exceptional attention gives cinematic identity to collective artisanal energy, to the life force of care and devotion that stands outside the agonies of politics, to the spirit that endures a regime and outlives it.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
10 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Tortures.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tortures. Accessed 18 Feb. 2026.
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