torture

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Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
torture/ˈtɔːtʃə(r)/
noun
  • 1 the action or practice of inflicting severe pain as a punishment or a forcible means of persuasion.
  • 2 great suffering or anxiety.
verb subject to torture.
– derivatives
torturer noun.
– origin ME: via Fr. from late L. tortura ‘twisting, torment’, from L. torquere ‘to twist’.
'torture' also found in these Oxford entries:

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