Library / English Dictionary

CLENCH

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of grasping

Example:

she kept a firm hold on the railing

Synonyms:

clasp; clench; clutch; clutches; grasp; grip; hold

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

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

grasping; prehension; seizing; taking hold (the act of gripping something firmly with the hands (or the tentacles))

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

choke hold; chokehold (a restraining hold; someone loops the arm around the neck of another person in a tight grip, usually from behind)

embrace; embracement; embracing (the act of clasping another person in the arms (as in greeting or affection))

wrestling hold (a hold used in the sport of wrestling)

Derivation:

clench (hold in a tight grasp)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A small slip noose made with seizing

Synonyms:

clench; clinch

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

noose; running noose; slip noose (a loop formed in a cord or rope by means of a slipknot; it binds tighter as the cord or rope is pulled)

Domain category:

vessel; watercraft (a craft designed for water transportation)

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

double clinch (a clinch with two loops)

inside clinch (a clinch with the end of the line inside the loop)

outside clinch (a clinch with the end of the line outside the loop)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Squeeze together tightly

Example:

clench one's jaw

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

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

squeeze (press firmly)

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

grit (clench together)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Hold in a tight grasp

Example:

clench a steering wheel

Synonyms:

clench; clinch

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

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

clutch; prehend; seize (take hold of; grab)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

clench (the act of grasping)

Credits

 Context examples: 

A sense of discomfort or distress that is spasmodic or clenching.

(Cramping Pain, NCI Thesaurus)

His strong loose hands clench themselves, in his earnestness; and he emphasizes what he says with a right arm that shows, in my pigmy view, like a sledge-hammer.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He held on to the wing and growled between his tight-clenched teeth.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Occasionally, with faces which were convulsed with fear and hatred, they shook their clenched hands at the woods round and cried: "Doda! Doda!" which was surely their term for their enemies.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

One of the onlookers, who had been clenching his teeth to suppress hot speech, now spoke up:—

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (AIMS) Facial and Oral Movements, Jaw, e.g., biting, clenching, chewing, mouth opening, lateral movement.

(AIMS - Jaw, NCI Thesaurus)

Amidst this sordid scene, sat a man with his clenched hands resting on his knees, and his eyes bent on the ground.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

If you say you love him, I know I shall do something desperate; and he looked as if he would keep his word, as he clenched his hands with a wrathful spark in his eyes.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Then she came down the street with her eyes blazing, and I saw the crippled wretch standing by the lamp-post and shaking his clenched fists in the air as if he were mad with rage.

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

Possibly I might be blamed a bit for my truantry, but the recapture of the HISPANIOLA was a clenching answer, and I hoped that even Captain Smollett would confess I had not lost my time.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)