n. the deliberate, systematic, or wanton infliction of physical or mental suffering by one or more persons in an attempt to force another person to yield information or to make a confession or for any other reason; "it required unnatural torturing to extract a confession"

adj. extremely painful

n. the act of punishing

n. the act of piercing with a sharpened stake as a form of punishment or torture

adj. showing sorrow

adj. very bad in degree or extent; "a severe worldwide depression"; "the house suffered severe damage"

adj. feeling or expressing pain or sorrow for sins or offenses

adj. very clearly delineated; "razor-sharp definition"

adj. causing fear or dread or terror; "the awful war"; "an awful risk"; "dire news"; "a career or vengeance so direful that London was shocked"; "the dread presence of the headmaster"; "polio is no longer the dreaded disease it once was"; "a dreadful storm"; "a fearful howling"; "horrendous explosions shook the city"; "a terrible curse"

adj. extremely irritating to the nerves; "nerve-racking noise"; "the stressful days before a war"; "a trying day at the office"

adj. causing an emotional disturbance; "his disconcerting habit of greeting friends ferociously and strangers charmingly"- Herb Caen; "an upsetting experience"

adj. provoking horror; "an atrocious automobile accident"; "a frightful crime of decapitation"; "an alarming, even horrifying, picture"; "war is beyond all words horrible"- Winston Churchill; "an ugly wound"

adj. used of persons or their behavior; "impossible behavior"; "insufferable insolence"

adj. causing disapproval or protest; "a vulgar and objectionable person"

adj. causing distress or worry or anxiety; "distressing (or disturbing) news"; "lived in heroic if something distressful isolation"; "a disturbing amount of crime"; "a revelation that was most perturbing"; "a new and troubling thought"; "in a particularly worrisome predicament"; "a worrying situation"; "a worrying time"

adj. causing a dull and steady pain; "my aching head"; "her old achy joints"

adj. causing misery or pain or distress; "it was a sore trial to him"; "the painful process of growing up"

adj. expressing pain or agony; "agonized screams"

adj. difficult to accomplish; demanding considerable mental effort and skill; "the arduous work of preparing a dictionary"

adj. (painful)

adj. painful from having the skin abraded

adj. hurting; "the tender spot on his jaw"

adj. keenly distressing to the mind or feelings; "poignant anxiety"

adj. causing great physical or mental suffering; "a wrenching pain"

adj. (of a rider) sore after riding a horse

adj. psychologically painful;"few experiences are more traumatic than losing a child";