# torture

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈtoɹt͡ʃɚ/ · frequency rank #5,639

## Definitions
1. The infliction of severe pain or anguish, especially as an interrogation technique or punishment; (usually in the plural) a technique, method, or device which is designed to inflict such anguish.
2. The infliction of severe pain or anguish, especially as an interrogation technique or punishment; (usually in the plural) a technique, method, or device which is designed to inflict such anguish.
3. Severe pain or anguish, of mind or body.
4. An unpleasant sensation or its infliction: embarrassment, heartache, etc.

## Etymology
From Middle English torture, from Old French torture, from Late Latin tortūra (“a twisting, writhing, of bodily pain, a griping colic;” in Medieval Latin “pain inflicted by judicial or ecclesiastical authority as a means of persuasion, torture”), from Latin tortus (whence also tort), past participle of torquēre (“to twist”).

## Easily confused with
- **Toure** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/torture-vs-toure)
- **tortured** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/torture-vs-tortured)
- **torque** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/torque-vs-torture)
- **texture** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/texture-vs-torture)

## Common misspellings (10)
`otrture`, `torrture`, `tortrue`, `tortture`, `tortuer`, `torturre`, `torutre`, `totrure`, `troture`, `ttorture`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/torture