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WRITHING
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Moving in a twisting or snake-like or wormlike fashion
Example:
wiggly worms
Synonyms:
wiggly; wriggling; wriggly; writhing
Classified under:
Similar:
moving (in motion)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
-ing form of the verb writhe
Context examples:
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)
He scowled at Zilla, whose withered lips were again writhing into speech, and compelled her to silence.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
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)
It seems to have been a special nest of these vermins, and the slopes were alive with them, all writhing in our direction, for it is a peculiarity of the Jaracaca that he will always attack man at first sight.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The death of William, the execution of Justine, the murder of Clerval, and lastly of my wife; even at that moment I knew not that my only remaining friends were safe from the malignity of the fiend; my father even now might be writhing under his grasp, and Ernest might be dead at his feet.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
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)
Instead of subsiding as night drew on, it seemed to augment its rush and deepen its roar: the trees blew steadfastly one way, never writhing round, and scarcely tossing back their boughs once in an hour; so continuous was the strain bending their branchy heads northward—the clouds drifted from pole to pole, fast following, mass on mass: no glimpse of blue sky had been visible that July day.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
“The Devil take you!” said Uriah, writhing in a new way with pain.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
His face strove to compose itself, writhing and twisting in the effort till he broke down again.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
His naked fangs and writhing lips were uniformly efficacious, rarely failing to send a bellowing on-rushing dog back on its haunches.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
