Foment vs Torment - What's the difference?
foment | torment |
To incite or cause troublesome acts; to encourage; to instigate.
(medicine) To apply a poultice to; to bathe with a cloth or sponge.
* 1904, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Abbey Grange , Norton (2005), page 1178,
(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.
* Bible, Matthew iv. 24
To cause severe suffering to (stronger than to vex'' but weaker than ''to torture. )
* 2013 , Phil McNulty, "
As verbs the difference between foment and torment
is that foment is to incite or cause troublesome acts; to encourage; to instigate while torment is to cause severe suffering to (stronger than to vex'' but weaker than ''to torture ).As a noun torment is
(obsolete) a catapult or other kind of war-engine.foment
English
Verb
(en verb)- He was arrested for fomenting a riot; after all, it's bad enough being in a riot but starting one is much worse.
- The maid had entered with us, and began once more to foment the bruise upon her mistress's brow.
Derived terms
* fomentationtorment
English
Noun
(en noun)- He was bitter from the torments of the divorce system.
- They brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments .
Synonyms
* See alsoDerived terms
* tormentousVerb
(en verb)- The child tormented the flies by pulling their wings off.
Man City 4-1 Man Utd", BBC Sport , 22 September 2013:
- 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.