rack

Compared meaning: to cause great pain or suffering (verb).

比较义项：使痛苦、折磨（动词）。

• rack 本词

  Rack is mostly used in the passive pattern 'racked with/by', for pain, guilt or doubt that seems to twist or strain the body or mind; it rarely names a person as the one doing the tormenting.

  rack 多用于被动结构“be racked with/by”，描述像要把身体或心理“绞碎”一样的疼痛、内疚或疑虑，很少用来指某人主动折磨别人。

  Her body was racked with pain after the long flight.

  长途飞行后，她全身被剧痛折磨得难以忍受。

• torture

  Torture is the strongest word: it means to inflict severe pain deliberately and often systematically, especially as punishment, coercion, or cruelty, most commonly physical and linked to prisoners or war.

  torture 是语气最强的词，指蓄意、常常是有系统地施加剧烈痛苦，多为身体上的折磨，常与惩罚、逼供或战俘等语境相关。

  Enemy soldiers tortured the captured spy to extract information.

  敌军士兵严刑拷打那名被俘的间谍，以逼取情报。

• torment

  Torment describes persistent, wearing suffering, often mental or emotional, caused by something ongoing like noise, worry, or teasing rather than a single deliberate act of violence.

  torment 描述持续不断、令人心力交瘁的痛苦，往往是心理或情绪上的，由噪音、忧虑或戏弄等持续存在的事物造成，而不是一次蓄意的暴力行为。

  Mosquitoes tormented the campers all night with their constant buzzing.

  蚊子嗡嗡作响，整夜折磨着露营者。

All three mean to cause great suffering. Rack is used passively, as in 'racked with guilt', for intense emotional pain. Torture is the strongest, meaning to inflict pain deliberately, for prisoners or interrogation. Torment means ongoing, mental suffering, not always violent (nouns not compared).

这三个词都可以表示让人承受巨大的痛苦或折磨，但语气强弱和典型用法不同：rack 多用于被动结构“racked with/by...”，描述内疚、痛苦等情绪或感觉几乎要把人“绞碎”；torture 语气最强，强调蓄意、残酷地施加痛苦，常见于战俘、审讯等语境；torment 强调持续不断、多为心理上的煎熬，未必出自蓄意的暴力行为。这里不比较 rack 作名词表示“搁物架”、torture 作名词表示“酷刑”，以及 torment 作名词表示“折磨（的根源）”的用法。