torturous

1 hard to accept or bear especially emotionally relatives had to make the torturous decision to disconnect the patient's life-support system Synonyms afflicting, agonizing, cruel, excruciating, galling, grievous, harrowing, harsh, heartrending, hurtful, painful, tormenting, bitterRelated Words insufferable, insupportable, intolerable, unacceptable, unbearable, unendurable, unsupportable; appalling, awful, bad, dire, dreadful, ghastly, horrible, miserable, nasty, rotten, severe, terrible, vile, wretched; acute, extreme, intense, piercingNear Antonyms bearable, endurable, supportable, sustainable, tolerable; livable (also liveable), sufferable, survivable; acceptable, allowable, reasonableAntonyms gratifying, pleasing, sweet

2 intensely or unbearably painful the post-infection treatment for rabies was as notoriously torturous as the disease itself Synonyms agonizing, harrowing, racking, raging, tormenting, torturing, excruciating, wrenchingRelated Words acute, exquisite, extreme, fierce, intense, vehement, violent; biting, cutting, penetrating, piercing, sharp, shooting, smarting, stabbing, stinging, tearing, tingling