torture

英 ['tɔːtʃə] 美['tɔrtʃɚ]

CET4TEM4IELTSGRE考研CET6中频词常用词汇

复数: tortures;第三人称单数: tortures;过去式: tortured;过去分词: tortured;现在分词: torturing;

记忆方法:偷窃被拷打

torture 拷问，拷打，折磨，痛苦

来自拉丁语 tortus,扭曲的，扭成一团的，词源同 turn,torment.-ure,名词后缀。引词义拷问，折磨。

torture: torture: see torment
torture (n.): early 15c., "contortion, twisting, distortion; a disorder characterized by contortion," from Old French torture "infliction of great pain; great pain, agony" (12c.), and directly from Late Latin tortura "a twisting, writhing," in Medieval Latin "pain inflicted by judicial or ecclesiastical authority as a means of punishment or persuasion," from stem of Latin torquere "to twist, turn, wind, wring, distort" (see torque (n.)). The meaning "infliction of severe bodily pain as a means of punishment or persuasion" in English is from 1550s. The theory behind judicial torture was that a guilty person could be made to confess, but an innocent one could not, by this means. Macaulay writes that it was last inflicted in England in May 1640.
torture (v.): 1580s, from torture (n.). Related: Tortured; torturing.

1. The friction of the sheets against his skin was torture.: 被单摩擦着他的皮肤，简直像是酷刑。

2. 2,000 prisoners died as a result of torture and maltreatment.: 2,000名犯人死于拷打和虐待。

3. There are consistent reports of electrical torture being practised on inmates.: 一直有报道称犯人被施以电刑。

4. I believed that in civilized countries, torture had ended long ago.: 我原以为在文明国家，严刑拷打早已销声匿迹。

5. The confessions were obtained by what amounts to torture.: 这些供状是用近乎逼供的方式得来的。