Tantalize vs Torment - What's the difference?
tantalize | torment |
to tease (someone) by offering something desirable but keeping it out of reach
to bait (someone) by showing something desirable but leaving them unsatisfied
(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, "
In lang=en terms the difference between tantalize and torment
is that tantalize is to bait (someone) by showing something desirable but leaving them unsatisfied while torment is to cause severe suffering to (stronger than to vex'' but weaker than ''to torture ).As verbs the difference between tantalize and torment
is that tantalize is to tease (someone) by offering something desirable but keeping it out of reach 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.tantalize
English
Verb
(tantaliz)Quotations
* 1880 — *: They could not bear to be tantalized nor tortured by the splendid delusion. * 1884 — , section 22 *: All pleasures palled upon me; all sights tantalized and tempted me to outspoken treason, because I could not but compare what I saw in Two Dimensions with what it really was if seen in Three, and could hardly refrain from making my comparisons aloud. * 1895 — , Ch. XV *: He had been possessed of much fear of his friend, for he saw how easily questionings could make holes in his feelings. Lately, he had assured himself that the altered comrade would not tantalize him with a persistent curiosity, but he felt certain that during the first period of leisure his friend would ask him to relate his adventures of the previous day. * *: “It was—simply amazing,” she repeated abstractedly. “But I swore I wouldn’t tell it and here I am tantalizing you.” * 1936 — , Ch. IX *: As we threaded our dim way through the labyrinth with the aid of map and compass ... we were repeatedly tantalized by the sculptured walls along our route. ... If we had had more films, we would certainly have paused briefly to photograph certain bas-reliefs, but time-consuming hand-copying was clearly out of the question.torment
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.
