# torment
## English
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* (noun) IPA: /ˈtɔː(ɹ)mɛnt/, /ˈtɔː(ɹ)mənt/
** Audio (US):(file)
* (verb) IPA: /tɔː(ɹ)ˈmɛnt/
** Audio (Southern England):(file)
** Rhymes: -ɛnt

### Noun

torment (countable and uncountable, plural torments)
* (obsolete) A catapult or other kind of war-engine.
* Torture, originally as inflicted by an instrument of torture.
* Any extreme pain, anguish or misery, either physical or mental.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:pain, Thesaurus:distress
    He was bitter from the torments of the divorce.
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 4:24:They brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments.

#### Derived terms

* tormentous

#### Translations
### Verb

torment (third-person singular simple present torments, present participle tormenting, simple past and past participle tormented)
* (transitive) To cause severe suffering to (stronger than to vex but weaker than to torture.)
    Synonyms: afflict, torture; see also Thesaurus:hurt, Thesaurus:vex
    The child tormented the flies by pulling their wings off.
** 2013 September 22, Phil McNulty, “Man City 4-1 Man Utd”, in BBC Sport‎:Moyes, who never won a derby at Liverpool in 11 years as Everton manager, did not find the Etihad any more forgiving as City picked United apart in midfield, where Toure looked in a different class to United's £27.5m new boy Marouane Fellaini, and in defence as Aguero tormented Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand.
** 1913, Lewis Spence, chapter V, in The Myths of Mexico and Peru‎:But the divine children were both noisy and mischievous. They tormented their venerable grandmother with their shrill uproar and tricky behaviour.

#### Derived terms

* tormentor

#### Translations
## Middle English
### Etymology

Borrowed from Old French torment, from Latin tormentum.

### Noun

torment (plural torments)
* torment (suffering, pain)

#### Descendants

* English: torment

## Middle French
### Alternative forms

* tourment

### Etymology

From Old French torment, from Latin tormentum.

### Noun

torment m (plural torments)
* torment; suffering; anguish

## Old French
### Alternative forms

* turment

### Etymology

From Latin tormentum.

### Noun

torment oblique singular, m (oblique plural tormenz or tormentz, nominative singular tormenz or tormentz, nominative plural torment)
* torture
** 13th century, Unknown, La Vie de Saint Laurent, page 11, column 1, line 19:Saint Lorenz dit torment ne dotSaint Laurence says he doesn't fear torture
* (figuratively, by extension) suffering; torment

#### Descendants

* Middle English: torment (borrowing)
** English: torment
* Middle French: torment, tourment
** French: tourment

#### References

* Etymology and history of “tourment”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Old Occitan
### Etymology

From Latin tormentum.

### Noun

torment m (nominative singular torments)
* suffering; torment

#### Descendants

* Occitan: torment