tormenting

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

tor•ment /v. tɔrˈmɛnt, ˈtɔrmɛnt; n. ˈtɔrmɛnt/   v. [~ + object]

1. to cause (someone) to feel severe suffering:
   The disease tormented him night and day.
2. to worry or annoy too much;
   keep bothering;
   plague:
   constantly tormenting me with her schemes.

n. 

3. a state of suffering;
   agony;
   misery:
   [uncountable] the torment of cancer.
4. [countable] something that causes pain or suffering.
5. [countable] a source of much trouble, worry, or annoyance.

tor•ment•ing•ly, adv. 
tor•men•tor, tor•ment•er, n. [countable]

: lost his patience and punched his tormentor in the nose.

See -tort-.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

tor•ment  (v. tôr ment′, tôr′ment;n. tôr′ment), v.t. 

1. to afflict with great bodily or mental suffering;
   pain:
   to be tormented with violent headaches.
2. to worry or annoy excessively:
   to torment one with questions.
3. to throw into commotion;
   stir up;
   disturb.

n. 

4. a state of great bodily or mental suffering;
   agony;
   misery.
5. something that causes great bodily or mental pain or suffering.
6. a source of much trouble, worry, or annoyance.
7. an instrument of torture, as the rack or the thumbscrew.
8. the infliction of torture by means of such an instrument or the torture so inflicted.

• Old French tormenter, derivative of torment (compare Late Latin tormentāre)
• *tork^w-ment- (see torque, -ment); (verb, verbal) Middle English tormenten
• Latin tormentum rope, catapult, torture
• Old French
• (noun, nominal) Middle English 1250–1300

tor•ment′ed•ly, adv. 
tor•ment′ing•ly, adv. 
tor•ment′ing•ness, n. 
Synonyms

• 1. harry, hector, vex, distress, agonize.
  Torment, rack, torture suggest causing great physical or mental pain, suffering, or harassment.
  To torment is to afflict or harass as by incessant repetition of vexations or annoyances:
  to be tormented by doubts.
  To rack is to affect with such pain as that suffered by one stretched on a rack; to concentrate with painful effort:
  to rack one's brains.
  To torture is to afflict with acute and more or less protracted suffering:
  to torture one by keeping one in suspense.
• 2. plague, pester, tease, provoke, needle, trouble, fret.
• 4. torture, distress, anguish.

Antonyms

• 1. please.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

torment verb / tɔːˈmɛnt/(transitive)

1. to afflict with great pain, suffering, or anguish; torture
2. to tease or pester in an annoying way

noun / ˈtɔːmɛnt/

1. physical or mental pain
2. a source of pain, worry, annoyance, etc

Etymology: 13th Century: from Old French, from Latin tormentum, from torquēre

torˈmented adjective

torˈmenting adjective , noun