tortured
tortured Lexical Profile
tortured Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
Experiencing or expressing severe physical pain or deep mental and emotional anguish.
"The novel centers on a tortured artist struggling to reconcile his past mistakes."
Artificially strained, twisted, or overly complex to the point of being unnatural or difficult to follow (especially of language, reasoning, or syntax).
"The spokesperson offered a tortured explanation to justify the sudden policy reversal."
• verb
To inflict severe physical or mental pain and suffering on someone (past tense and past participle of torture).
"He was tortured by doubts about whether he had made the right career decision."
Word Nuance & Usage
While 'tortuous' means full of twists and turns and 'torturous' means causing severe pain, 'tortured' as an adjective uniquely applies to both someone suffering deep emotional anguish ('a tortured soul') and language or logic that is overly strained and convoluted ('tortured syntax').
• Rhymes for tortured
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Derived from the verb 'torture', which entered English via Middle French from Late Latin 'tortura' (a twisting, writhing, or torment), ultimately from the Latin verb 'torquere' meaning 'to twist'.