What does torment mean?
Torment names an unusually severe and persistent condition of suffering, most often mental anguish but sometimes physical pain. As a noun, it can refer to the suffering itself or to something that repeatedly inflicts it, as in “the torment of an unresolved decision.” As a verb, it means to cause such suffering or to keep a person in a state of anxiety, doubt, or irritation. The word is more formal and literary than everyday alternatives such as “worry,” but it conveys greater intensity and duration. “Distress” can be mild or brief; “torment” suggests a burden that is hard to escape. Because it can describe both a condition and the act of inflicting it, torment is useful in fiction, biography, legal and political discussion, and formal accounts of difficult personal experience. Its long history also connects physical torment with the earlier idea of twisting or racking the body, giving the modern word an unusually vivid history.
Severe and persistent suffering, especially pain of body or mind; something that causes such anguish.
"The uncertainty surrounding the diagnosis became an unrelenting torment."
Often used in formal, literary, or emotionally heightened contexts. It can function as a mass noun or appear in the plural form “torments.”
To cause someone severe physical or mental suffering; to subject someone to persistent anguish or anxiety.
"Constant doubts continued to torment him long after the deadline had passed."
Commonly transitive, but it can also be used intransitively in constructions such as “torment oneself with doubts.”
The plural is used for distinct sources of anguish or for recurring states of severe suffering.
"The novel explores the torments of jealousy, regret, and isolation."
Torment began with a picture of twisting: its Latin ancestor came from torquere, meaning “to twist,” reflecting the painful practice of twisting or racking the body.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does torment come from?
English borrowed the word through French from Latin tormentum, which in turn came from torquere, meaning “to twist.” The word initially conveyed the pain caused by twisting or racking the body and later broadened to include severe suffering and mental anguish. Modern cognates such as torture, contort, and tortuous preserve the same Latin root.
Related word forms
How torment is actually used
Torment is formal or literary in tone and is generally stronger and more sustained than words such as “worry” or “trouble.” Its noun and verb forms normally have first-syllable stress, but the final vowel differs: the noun ends with a schwa sound, while the verb has a more open final vowel.
Easily confused with torment
Torment emphasizes severe suffering or the persistent condition it creates, whereas torture more specifically emphasizes the deliberate infliction of extreme physical or mental suffering.