torture

noun

1. the deliberate, systematic, or wanton infliction of physical or mental suffering by one or more persons in an attempt to force another person to yield information or to make a confession or for any other reason

e.g. it required unnatural torturing to extract a confession

Synonym: torturing

2. the act of distorting something so it seems to mean something it was not intended to mean

Synonym: distortionoverrefinementstrainingtwisting

3. intense feelings of suffering
acute mental or physical pain

e.g. an agony of doubt
the torments of the damned

Synonym: agonytorment

4. extreme mental distress

Synonym: anguishtorment

5. unbearable physical pain

Synonym: torment

verb

1. subject to torture

e.g. The sinners will be tormented in Hell, according to the Bible

Synonym: excruciatetorment

2. torment emotionally or mentally

Synonym: tormentexcruciaterack

1. 拷打;拷问;虐待
If someone is tortured, another person deliberately causes them great pain over a period of time, in order to punish them or to make them reveal information.

e.g. French police are convinced that she was tortured and killed...
法国警方确信她是被拷打致死。
e.g. Three members of the group had been tortured to death…
该团体中有三个人被拷打致死。

2. 折磨;使痛苦;使苦恼
To torture someone means to cause them to suffer mental pain or anxiety.

e.g. He would not torture her further by trying to argue with her...
他不愿与她争辩，让她更痛苦。
e.g. She tortured herself with fantasies of Bob and his new girlfriend.
她想象着鲍勃和他的新女友在一起的情形，心里备受煎熬。

3. 折磨;痛苦;苦恼;引起痛苦(或苦恼)的事物
If you say that something is torture or a torture, you mean that it causes you great mental or physical suffering.

e.g. Waiting for the result was torture...
等待结果的过程是一种折磨。
e.g. The friction of the sheets against his skin was torture…
被单摩擦着他的皮肤，简直像是酷刑。