different between torture vs blackmail

English

Etymology

From Middle English torture, from Old French torture, from Late Latin tort?ra (“a twisting, writhing, of bodily pain, a griping colic;” in Middle Latin “pain inflicted by judicial or ecclesiastical authority as a means of persuasion, torture”), from Latin tortus (whence also tort), past participle of torquere (“to twist”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?t??t???/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?t??t???(?)/
• Rhymes: -??(?)t??(?)
• Homophone: torcher
• Hyphenation: tor?ture

Noun

torture (countable and uncountable, plural tortures)

1. intentional causing of somebody's experiencing agony

2. (chiefly literary) the "suffering of the heart" imposed by one on another, as in personal relationships

   Coventry City midfielder Josh Ruffels described his 11 months out injured as 'absolute torture' after the goalless draw with Derby County Under-21s. ([3])

3. (colloquial) (often as "absolute torture") stage fright, severe embarrassment

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

torture (third-person singular simple present tortures, present participle torturing, simple past and past participle tortured)

1. (transitive) To intentionally inflict severe pain or suffering on (someone).

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• torture in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• torture in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• torture at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• trouter, tutorer

Asturian

Verb

torture

1. first-person singular present subjunctive of torturar
2. third-person singular present subjunctive of torturar

French

Etymology

From Late Latin tort?ra, from Latin tortus, from torque?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t??.ty?/
• Rhymes: -y?
• Homophones: torturent, tortures

Noun

torture f (plural tortures)

1. torture

   • With these passages and other similar ones, the poor gentleman lost his judgement. He spent his nights and gave himself torture to understand them, to consider them more deeply, to take from them their deepest meaning, which Aristotle himself would not have been able to do, had he been resurrected for that very purpose.

Related terms

Descendants

• ? Swedish: tortyr c

Verb

torture

1. first-person singular present indicative of torturer
2. third-person singular present indicative of torturer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of torturer
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of torturer
5. second-person singular imperative of torturer

Further reading

• “torture” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Italian

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ure

Noun

torture f

1. plural of tortura

Anagrams

• rotture, rutterò, ruttore

Latin

Participle

tort?re

1. vocative masculine singular of tort?rus

Portuguese

Verb

torture

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of torturar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of torturar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of torturar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of torturar

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /to??tu?e/, [t?o??t?u.?e]

Verb

torture

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of torturar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of torturar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of torturar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of torturar.

English

Etymology

From black + mail (“a piece of money”). Compare Middle English blak rente (“a type of blackmail levied by Irish chieftains”).

The word is variously derived from the tribute paid by English and Scottish border dwellers to Border Reivers in return for immunity from raids and other harassment. This tribute was paid in goods or labour, in Latin reditus nigri "blackmail"; the opposite is blanche firmes or reditus albi "white rent", denoting payment by silver. Alternatively, McKay derives it from two Scottish Gaelic words blàthaich, pronounced (the th silent) bl-aich, "to protect" and màl (“tribute, payment”). He notes that the practice was common in the Highlands of Scotland as well as the Borders.

More likely, from black (adj.) + Middle English mal, male, maile (“a payment, rent, tribute”), from Old English m?l (“speech, contract, agreement, lawsuit, terms, bargaining”), from Old Norse mál (“agreement, speech, lawsuit”); related to Old English mæðel "meeting, council," mæl "speech," Gothic ???????????????? (maþl) "meeting place," from Proto-Germanic *maþl?, from PIE *mod- "to meet, assemble" (see meet (v.)). From the practice of freebooting clan chieftains who ran protection rackets against Scottish farmers. Black from the evil of the practice. Expanded c.1826 to any type of extortion money. Compare silver mail "rent paid in money" (1590s); buttock-mail (Scottish, 1530s) "fine imposed for fornication."

Pronunciation

Noun

blackmail (uncountable)

1. The extortion of money or favours by threats of public accusation, exposure, or censure.
2. (archaic) A form of protection money (or corn, cattle, etc.) anciently paid, in the north of England and south of Scotland, to the allies of robbers in order to be spared from pillage.
3. (England law, historical) Black rent, or rent paid in corn, meat, or the lowest coin, as opposed to white rent, which was paid in silver.
4. Compromising material that can be used to extort someone, dirt.

Derived terms

• emotional blackmail
• post-attack blackmail

Translations

Verb

blackmail (third-person singular simple present blackmails, present participle blackmailing, simple past and past participle blackmailed)

1. (transitive) To extort money or favors from (a person) by exciting fears of injury other than bodily harm, such as injury to reputation, distress of mind, false accusation, etc.

   He blackmailed a businesswoman by threatening to expose an alleged fraud.

2. (Kenya) To speak ill of someone; to defame someone.

Translations

Related terms

• graymail, whitemail, greenmail

See also

• extortion
• protection racket

Scots

Etymology

From black (“bad”) +? mail (“rent”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?bl?k???l/, /?bl?k???l/
• (Southern Scotland) IPA^(key): /?bl??k????l/

Noun

blackmail (uncountable)

1. (archaic) A tribute paid, usually in kind, to reivers or raiders as a form of protection money.
2. Payment of money exacted by means of intimidation.

Verb

blackmail (third-person singular present blackmails, present participle blackmailin, past blackmailt, past participle blackmailt)

1. To extort money from another by means of intimidation.