Library / English Dictionary

WRITHE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Example:

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

Synonyms:

squirm; twist; worm; wrestle; wriggle; writhe

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

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

Credits

 Context examples: 

His eyes rolled upwards, his features writhed in agony, and with a suppressed groan he dropped on his face upon the ground.

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

The words came out in broken, strenuous speech, while the lady's fair face was writhed and drawn like that of one who looks upon a horror which strikes the words from her lips.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It had seemed to her like a giant writhing and straining at the bonds that held him down.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

An extraordinary change had come over his face. It was writhing with inward merriment. His two eyes were shining like stars.

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

The other bounded round in an eccentric circle with shrill, wailing cries, and then lying down writhed in agony for some minutes before it also stiffened and lay still.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A subtype of cerebral palsy characterized by both the tight muscle tone of spastic cerebral palsy and the writhing, involuntary muscle movements of athetoid cerebral palsy.

(Mixed Cerebral Palsy, NCI Thesaurus)

Gold and scarlet in arabesque designs gleamed upon the walls, with gilt dragons and monsters writhing along cornices and out of corners.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

While I was thus looking and wondering, in a calm moment, when the ship was still, Israel Hands turned partly round and with a low moan writhed himself back to the position in which I had seen him first.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

A subtype of cerebral palsy characterized by involuntary, purposeless writhing movements which affect the hands, feet, arms, and legs; the face and tongue may be affected as well, leading to involuntary grimacing, drooling, dysarthria and difficulty eating.

(Athetoid Cerebral Palsy, NCI Thesaurus)

“Immortally safe, sir,” returned Uriah, writhing in the direction of the voice.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)