Synonyms of torturous

torturous

adjective

ˈtȯrch-rəs 

1

as in painful

hard to accept or bear especially emotionally

relatives had to make the torturous decision to disconnect the patient's life-support system

Synonyms & Similar Words

• painful
• harsh
• cruel
• agonizing
• excruciating
• horrible
• terrible
• harrowing
• bitter
• hurtful
• severe
• unacceptable
• awful
• grievous
• unbearable
• tormenting
• galling
• dreadful
• intolerable
• unendurable
• miserable
• bad
• afflicting
• heartrending
• insufferable
• intense
• appalling
• ghastly
• vile
• dire
• insupportable
• extreme
• acute
• wretched
• nasty
• unsupportable
• rotten
• piercing

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• sweet
• gratifying
• pleasing
• tolerable
• bearable
• endurable
• sustainable
• acceptable
• supportable
• survivable
• reasonable
• allowable
• livable
• sufferable
• liveable

2

as in wrenching

intensely or unbearably painful

the post-infection treatment for rabies was as notoriously torturous as the disease itself

Synonyms & Similar Words

• wrenching
• agonizing
• excruciating
• torturing
• intense
• harrowing
• raging
• violent
• tormenting
• extreme
• racking
• exquisite
• acute
• biting
• fierce
• stabbing
• vehement
• tearing
• penetrating
• piercing
• sharp
• shooting
• stinging
• cutting
• tingling
• smarting

Examples of torturous in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Small Rain By Garth Greenwell Greenwell chronicles, in realistic and copious detail, day-to-day care in a hospital: the numerous IV lines branching out from the narrator’s body, the torturous trips to the bathroom, the consultations with teams of doctors who can’t find a cause or cure. —Walt Hunter, The Atlantic, 3 Sep. 2024

For Erice, a master, cinema works as a revelatory force that can illuminate our truest feelings and yearnings, despite the efforts of some of his characters to escape their torturous pasts. —Carlos Aguilar, Los Angeles Times, 31 Aug. 2024

Guests will endure torturous trials and come face to face with some of John Kramer’s most diabolical contraptions before time runs out. —William Earl, Variety, 25 June 2024

Can pimple patches heal your torturous mosquito bites? —Jenna Ryu, SELF, 23 July 2024