tormenting


Also found in: Thesaurus, Idioms.
Related to tormenting: eased, fall off, in favor, sufferers

tor·ment

(tôr′mĕnt′)
n.
1. Great physical pain or mental anguish.
2. A source of harassment, annoyance, or pain.
3. The torture inflicted on prisoners under interrogation.
tr.v. (tôr-mĕnt′, tôr′mĕnt′) tor·ment·ed, tor·ment·ing, tor·ments
1. To cause to undergo great physical pain or mental anguish. See Synonyms at afflict.
2. To annoy, pester, or harass: tormented by the children's pleas to be taken to the mall.
[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin tormentum, from torquēre, to twist; see terkw- in Indo-European roots.]
tor·ment′ing·ly adv.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

tormenting

adjective
Extraordinarily painful or distressing:
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
References in classic literature ?
It was as if I had let the old man in out of the tormenting winter, and were sitting there with him.
View in context
I strained every nerve to do so: by striving to amuse them, I endeavoured to attract them to my side; by the exertion of such authority as I possessed, and by such severity as I dared to use, I tried to deter them from tormenting the guests; and by reproaching their unmannerly conduct, to make them ashamed to repeat it.
View in context
At the very instant he did this and uttered those words, Pierre felt that the question of his wife's guilt which had been tormenting him the whole day was finally and indubitably answered in the affirmative.
View in context
But she has a way of tormenting him, in which I am a fellow- sufferer, or might be, if I chose to regard myself as such.
View in context
My dear Friend,--That tormenting creature, Reginald, is here.
View in context

Full browser ?