Torment

How to spell torment

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce torment

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does torment mean?

1. nounSevere physical or mental suffering, or a source of such suffering.
2. verbTo cause someone severe physical or mental suffering, often repeatedly.

Torment in a sentence

• noun

  The long wait for the test results was sheer torment.

• verb

  The older boys would torment him about his accent every recess.

• noun

  Chronic back pain made every car journey a torment.

• verb

  Guilt continued to torment her long after the argument ended.

Where does torment come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin tormentum, which named an instrument of torture and originally meant a twisted rope, sling, or winch. That noun was built on the verb torquere, meaning 'to twist' or 'to wring', so the underlying image is of something being painfully wrenched or contorted. English took it in during the 1200s through Old French torment, first for physical agony and the devices that caused it, and later for any mental or emotional anguish. The same torquere root still twists its way through a surprising family of English words, including 'torture', 'distort', 'contort', and even 'torque', the twisting force on an engine. Knowing that the core idea is a twist helps fix the single 'r' and the plain -ment ending, with no hidden doubling.

How the word is built

• torment- (from Latin tormentum, an instrument of torture, from torquere 'to twist')
• (the -mentum noun ending that gave us -ment)