Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1500-1600
Language: French
Origin: Late Latin tortura, from Latin tortus 'twisted', from torquere; TORQUE

torture

1 noun
     
tor‧ture1 [uncountable and countable]
1 an act of deliberately hurting someone in order to force them to tell you something, to punish them, or to be cruel:
He died after five days of excruciating torture.
2 severe physical or mental suffering:
The waiting must be torture for you.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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