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PlainSpell

torment

/ˈtɔː(ɹ)mɛnt/noun, verb

torment is spelled T-O-R-M-E-N-T: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 2.3 times per million words in written English, the 18,064th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, torment means “Torture, originally as inflicted by an instrument of torture” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of torment is torments.

How many letters and syllables are in torment?

Letters7: T-O-R-M-E-N-T
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing2.3 times per million words; the 18,064th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is torment?

Torment appears 2.3 times per million words in written English, the 18,064th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce torment?

  • /ˈtɔː(ɹ)mɛnt/
  • /ˈtɔː(ɹ)mənt/

As a verb (“To cause severe suffering to (stronger than to vex but…”): /tɔː(ɹ)ˈmɛnt/.

Torment has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-torment.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-torment_(verb).wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of torment

  • torments plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • tormenting participle, present
  • tormented participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does torment mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    obsoleteA catapult or other kind of war-engine.

  2. 2

    Torture, originally as inflicted by an instrument of torture.

    I've gone through living torment.

  3. 3

    Any extreme pain, anguish or misery, either physical or mental.

    He behaved bitter from the torments of the divorce.

verb

  1. 1

    To cause severe suffering to (stronger than to vex but weaker than to torture.)

    The child tormented the flies by pulling their wings off.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Torment in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchtourment (extreme pain), tourmenter (to cause severe suffering)
GermanQual (extreme pain), quälen, peinigen (to cause severe suffering)
Portuguesetormento (extreme pain), judiar, maltratar, atormentar (to cause severe suffering)
Spanishtormento (extreme pain), atormentar (to cause severe suffering)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does torment come from?

From Middle English torment, from Old French torment, from Latin tormentum (“something operated by twisting”), from torquere (“to twist”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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