TWITCHING

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does twitching mean? 

• TWITCHING (noun)
  The noun TWITCHING has 1 sense:

1. a sudden muscle spasm; especially one caused by a nervous condition

  Familiarity information: TWITCHING used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TWITCHING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A sudden muscle spasm; especially one caused by a nervous condition

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

twitch; twitching; vellication

Hypernyms ("twitching" is a kind of...):

cramp; muscle spasm; spasm (a painful and involuntary muscular contraction)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "twitching"):

tic (a local and habitual twitching especially in the face)

blepharism (condition in which a person blinks continuously)

fibrillation (muscular twitching involving individual muscle fibers acting without coordination)

fasciculation (muscular twitching of contiguous groups of muscle fibers)

Derivation:

twitch (make an uncontrolled, short, jerky motion)

twitch (move with abrupt, seemingly uncontrolled motions)

 Context examples 

Symptoms include muscle twitching, weakness, stiffness, and cramping; increased skin temperature, sweating, and heart rate; and problems with chewing, swallowing, speech, and breathing.

(Isaac syndrome, NCI Dictionary)

And Laurie poked the fire to hide a little twitching of the lips that he could not control.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The weakness can lead to twitching, cramps, aches and pains, and joint and movement problems.

(Neuromuscular Disorders, NIH)

Mr. Mortimer Tregennis was more self-contained than the clergyman, but the twitching of his thin hands and the brightness of his dark eyes showed that they shared a common emotion.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She held out her twitching hands as she spoke.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

His plump face was twitching with his nervousness, and his fingers could not keep still.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Careful administration of very small doses of toxin can restrict its action locally to reduce overactive muscles, such as those involved in twitching of the eyes.

(Botulin Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

Wolf Larsen did not seem affected, however; though I noticed, when we returned to the deck, a slight twitching of the nostrils, a perceptible quickness of movement.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

A little later the eyelids were afflicted by a nervous twitching that she could not control.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Hitherto his orgies had always been confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and shattered, in the evening.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)