 Torsion module

A torsion module over an integral domain $R$ is a module in which every element is a torsion element of a module. Each element may require a different nonzero annihilating scalar. The module $\mathbb{Z}/6\mathbb{Z}$ is torsion over $\mathbb{Z}$, and the polynomial module from a linear operator $\mathbb{Q}[t]/(t^2)$ is torsion over $\mathbb{Q}[t]$.

If the torsion module is a finitely generated module, one common nonzero scalar kills the whole module: multiply annihilating scalars for a finite generating set. Without finite generation this can fail. The quotient module $\mathbb{Q}/\mathbb{Z}$ is torsion, since the class of $a/b$ is killed by $b$, but no nonzero integer $n$ kills it all: the class of $1/(2|n|)$ survives multiplication by $n$. See Keith Conrad's Modules over a PID, exercise 6.5(c).