tormentous

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English

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Etymology

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From torment +‎ -ous.

Adjective

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tormentous (comparative more tormentous, superlative most tormentous)

  1. (rare, dated) Involving or causing torment; having the nature of torture.[1]
    • 1756, Philip Francis (translator), Horace (author), "Ode 35: To Fortune" in A Poetical Translation of the Works of Horace, p. 129 (Google preview):
      Before thee stalks inexorable Fate,
      And grasps impailing nails and wedges dread,
      The hook tormentous and the melted lead.
    • 1870, The Annual Register, Volume 111, page 264:
      [I]ts greed gave us years tormentous and horrible, like those of Ferdinand VII.
    • 1960 May, "Loneliest Boy on Capitol Hill", Ebony, vol. 15, no. 7, p. 58 (Google preview):
      Few adults could have survived the tormentous, agonizing heartbreak Jimmy endured.
    • 2006, Jubil Olebode Aka, Blacks Greatest Homeland: Nigeria Is Born Again, →ISBN, page 12:
      In Nigeria in particular and Africa generally, there is no winter, no heat-wave, no iceberg, no volcanoes, no hail storms, no devastating wild fires, no tormentous tornadoes or thunderstorms, no deadly floods.

Synonyms

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References

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  1. ^ Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd ed., 2005.