To Hurt Someone
To Torment, To Harass
transitive verb, ichidan verb
This word consists of kanji with hiragana attached. Because the hiragana ends with an う sound, you know this word is a verb.
The kanji itself means suffer, and the verb is all about when you make someone else suffer. That's why it's to hurt someone, to torment, or to harass.
You need to differentiate this from 苦しむ, which is about when YOU suffer. You can remember that 苦しめる is about making someone else suffer with this mnemonic: Who made you suffer? She made (しめ) me suffer! She's so mean!
By now, you've learned 苦しい and 苦しむ. The kanji in these words all use the same reading! Yay!
これ以上、私を苦しめないで！
Don't hurt me anymore!
米不足が全日本の国民を苦しめている。
The rice shortage is tormenting all citizens of Japan.
知らないうちに、毎日一年生を苦しめていた。
Without realizing it, I was harassing the first-graders every day.