torturers
They extract confessions
Torturers are people who inflict severe pain on others, typically to extract information, punish, or terrorize.
The term applies to state agents who interrogate prisoners through physical abuse, but extends to anyone who causes prolonged suffering: The regime's torturers operated in secret prisons.
Figuratively, anything that causes persistent anguish might be called a torturer: Insomnia was her nightly torturer.
People who influence deceitfully
- gaslightersThose who undermine perception
- abusersThose who harm others
- bulliesThose who intimidate others
- narcissistsSelf-absorbed individuals
coercers · intimidators · controllers · dominators · exploiters · harassers · tormentors · oppressors
People who question suspects
- executionersThose who kill legally
- inquisitorsThose who investigate beliefs
- abusersThose who harm others
- oppressorsThose who subjugate others
sadists · war criminals · jailers · guards · captors · persecutors · tyrants · enforcers
Those who investigate beliefs
- witch huntersThose pursuing alleged sorcerers
- conquistadorsSpanish colonial soldiers
- secret policeClandestine state security apparatus
- GestapoNazi secret police
Stasi · executioners · tribunals · heresy · auto-da-fe · medieval · colonial · imperial
Those who commit wrongs
- defendantsThose facing prosecution
- accusedCharged with wrongdoing
- indictedFormally charged legally
- prosecutedLegally charged with crime
tribunal · Hague · Nuremberg · war crimes · crimes against humanity · impunity · amnesty · testimony
manipulators
People who influence deceitfully
- gaslightersThose who undermine perception
- abusersThose who harm others
- bulliesThose who intimidate others
narcissists · coercers · intimidators · controllers · dominators · exploiters · harassers · tormentors · oppressors · persecutors
interrogators
People who question suspects
- executionersThose who kill legally
- inquisitorsThose who investigate beliefs
- abusersThose who harm others
oppressors · sadists · war criminals · jailers · guards · captors · persecutors · tyrants · enforcers · thugs
inquisitors
Those who investigate beliefs
- witch huntersThose pursuing alleged sorcerers
- conquistadorsSpanish colonial soldiers
- secret policeClandestine state security apparatus
Gestapo · Stasi · executioners · tribunals · heresy · auto-da-fe · medieval · colonial · imperial · crusaders
perpetrators
Those who commit wrongs
- defendantsThose facing prosecution
- accusedCharged with wrongdoing
- indictedFormally charged legally
prosecuted · tribunal · Hague · Nuremberg · war crimes · crimes against humanity · impunity · amnesty · testimony · witnesses
- oppressorstyrants, despots, dictators, autocrats, authoritarians
- tormentorstormentor, tormenter, persecutor, persecutors, oppressor
- manipulatorsmanipulators, brainwashers, gaslighters, controllers, puppeteers
torturershealers
Those who treat ailments
caregivers · nurses · doctors · physicians · therapists
torturershumanitarians
Those who promote welfare
protectors · Good Samaritans · saints · Mother Teresa · comforters
torturersliberators
Those who free captives
human rights defenders · abolitionists · freedom fighters · emancipators · whistleblowers
- water tortureTorment by repeated drops
- torture chamberSpace for inflicting suffering
- torture deviceObject causing deliberate pain
- torture rackJoint-separating punishment device
- Chinese water tortureRestraint with relentless droplets
- torture victimOne subjected to torment