(rare, dated) Involving or causing torment; having the nature of torture.Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd ed., 2005.
1756, Philip Francis (translator) (translator), (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, p. 264 (Google preview):Its greed gave us years tormentous and horrible, like those of Ferdinand VII.
1960 May, "The Loneliest Boy on Capital 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 9780595388974, p. 12 (Google preview):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.
