WRITHE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does writhe mean? 

• WRITHE (verb)
  The verb WRITHE has 1 sense:

1. to move in a twisting or contorted motion, (especially when struggling)

  Familiarity information: WRITHE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WRITHE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they writhe    ... he / she / it writhes   
Past simple: writhed   
Past participle: writhed   
-ing form: writhing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

To move in a twisting or contorted motion, (especially when struggling)

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

squirm; twist; worm; wrestle; wriggle; writhe

Context example:

The child tried to wriggle free from his aunt's embrace

Hypernyms (to "writhe" is one way to...):

move (move so as to change position, perform a nontranslational motion)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "writhe"):

wrench (make a sudden twisting motion)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Sentence examples:

The crowds writhe in the streets
The streets writhe with crowds

 Context examples 

“The Devil take you!” said Uriah, writhing in a new way with pain.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I writhed under his words, yet dared not exhibit the pain I felt.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Most of its efforts were ineffectual, but it was persistent, and it writhed and twisted and went ahead perhaps a score of feet an hour.

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

For a minute or more the hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor.

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

The next he was gripped at the back of his neck by a grasp of iron, and a chloroformed sponge was held in front of his writhing face.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Twice his teeth clipped together, like the steel jaws of a trap, as he backed away for better footing, with lean and lifting lips that writhed and snarled.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

He was in the same position in which I had left him, and his head was rocking—almost writhing—from side to side.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Still I did not answer, and still I writhed myself from his grasp: for I was still incredulous.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

And then the writhing and quivering of the body became less, and the teeth seemed to champ, and the face to quiver. Finally it lay still. The terrible task was over.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

His hair bristled involuntarily; his lips writhed back and his little fangs were bared.

(White Fang, by Jack London)