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Writhe wound its way to us from the Old English verb wrīthan, meaning “to twist,” and that ancestral meaning lives on in the word’s current uses, most of which have to do with twists of one kind or another. Among the oldest of these uses is the meaning “to twist into coils or folds,” but in modern use writhing is more often about the physical contortions of one suffering from debilitating pain or attempting to remove oneself from a tight grasp (as, say, a snake from a hawk’s talons). The word is also not infrequently applied to the twisting bodies of dancers. The closest relation of writhe in modern English lacks any of the painful connotations often present in writhe: wreath comes from Old English writha, which shares an ancestor with wrīthan.
Synonyms
Examples of writhe in a Sentence
Brendan Leonard, Outside Online, 5 Nov. 2024
Toward the end of the play, the once-effervescent Delia writhes in excruciating pain after a bone marrow transplant.
—Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY, 24 Oct. 2024
The crowd at American Airlines Center in Dallas grew quiet after Hendricks collapsed to the floor midway through the third quarter, writhing in pain as his right leg jutted out from his body at a gruesome angle.
—Danielle Jennings, People.com, 29 Oct. 2024
Shohei Ohtani was on the ground, writhing in pain after he was caught stealing second base in the seventh inning.
—Dylan Hernández, Los Angeles Times, 27 Oct. 2024
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Dictionary Entries Near writhe
Cite this Entry
“Writhe.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/writhe. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.
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