TORTURING

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does torturing mean? 

• TORTURING (noun)
  The noun TORTURING has 1 sense:

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

  Familiarity information: TORTURING used as a noun is very rare.

• TORTURING (adjective)
  The adjective TORTURING has 1 sense:

1. extremely painful

  Familiarity information: TORTURING used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TORTURING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

torture; torturing

Context example:

it required unnatural torturing to extract a confession

Hypernyms ("torturing" is a kind of...):

persecution (the act of persecuting (especially on the basis of race or religion))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "torturing"):

nail pulling; nail removal (a form of torture in which the fingernails or toenails are removed)

dismemberment; taking apart (the removal of limbs; being cut to pieces)

electric shock (the use of electricity to administer punishment or torture)

strapado; strappado (a form of torture in which the hands are tied behind a person's back and they are lifted off the ground by a rope tied to their wrists, then allowed to drop until their fall is checked with a jerk by the rope)

sleep deprivation (a form of psychological torture inflicted by depriving the victim of sleep)

sensory deprivation (a form of psychological torture inflicted by depriving the victim of all sensory input)

rack (a form of torture in which pain is inflicted by stretching the body)

prolonged interrogation (a form of psychological torture inflicted by questioning the victim for hours)

picket; piquet (a form of military punishment used by the British in the late 17th century in which a soldier was forced to stand on one foot on a pointed stake)

bastinado; falanga (a form of torture in which the soles of the feet are beaten with whips or cudgels)

kittee (a form of torture used by American Indians in which sensitive parts of the body were squeezed between two boards until the victim could bear no more)

kia quen (a form of foot torture used by the Chinese in which the victim's foot was placed between three pieces of bamboo and systematically squeezed)

judicial torture (torture that is sanctioned by the state and executed by duly accredited officials)

genital torture (blunt or penetrating trauma or rape (vaginal or anal))

crucifixion; excruciation (the infliction of extremely painful punishment or suffering)

burning (a form of torture in which cigarettes or cigars or other hot implements are used to burn the victim's skin)

boot (a form of foot torture in which the feet are encased in iron and slowly crushed)

Derivation:

torture (subject to torture)

• TORTURING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Extremely painful

Synonyms:

agonising; agonizing; excruciating; harrowing; torturesome; torturing; torturous

Similar:

painful (causing physical or psychological pain)

 Context examples 

He was evidently torturing his mind about something, so I waited for an instant, and he spoke:—What are we to do now? Where are we to turn for help?

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I shall ascend my funeral pile triumphantly and exult in the agony of the torturing flames.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

You know the weak side of her character, and may imagine the sentiments and expressions which were torturing me.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

It was torturing to me to hear them talk of occurrences in which I had had no share.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Yes; the future bridegroom, Mr. Rochester himself, exercised over his intended a ceaseless surveillance; and it was from this sagacity—this guardedness of his—this perfect, clear consciousness of his fair one's defects—this obvious absence of passion in his sentiments towards her, that my ever- torturing pain arose.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The poor wretch was doubtless torturing himself, after the manner of the insane, with needless thoughts of pain.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I passed three days in a luxury of wretchedness, torturing myself by putting every conceivable variety of discouraging construction on all that ever had taken place between Dora and me.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

"And then," I continued, though I have only sisterly affection for him now, yet, if forced to be his wife, I can imagine the possibility of conceiving an inevitable, strange, torturing kind of love for him, because he is so talented; and there is often a certain heroic grandeur in his look, manner, and conversation.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

My horror of having committed a thousand offences I had forgotten, and which nothing could ever expiate—my recollection of that indelible look which Agnes had given me—the torturing impossibility of communicating with her, not knowing, Beast that I was, how she came to be in London, or where she stayed—my disgust of the very sight of the room where the revel had been held—my racking head—the smell of smoke, the sight of glasses, the impossibility of going out, or even getting up!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)