writhe

verb

ˈrīt͟h 

writhed; writhing

transitive verb

1

a

: to twist into coils or folds

b

: to twist so as to distort : wrench

c

: to twist (the body or a bodily part) in pain

2

: intertwine

intransitive verb

1

: to move or proceed with twists and turns

writhed to the music

2

: to twist from or as if from pain or struggling

3

: to suffer keenly

writhe noun

Did you know?

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

• enlace
• entwine
• implicate [archaic]
• interlace
• intertwine
• intertwist
• interweave
• inweave
• lace
• ply
• twist
• weave
• wreathe

Examples of writhe in a Sentence

She lay on the floor, writhing in pain.

a nest of writhing snakes

Recent Examples on the Web

The characters of Mary & George are unapologetically lusty, and so is the show itself: Hardly an hour goes by without at least a few shots of backs or buttocks writhing against sumptuous backdrops in various configurations. —Angie Han, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Apr. 2024

As smoke rises and the flames consume them, the two men writhe and scream in agony – their final moments of unimaginable pain and horror captured on video. —Helen Regan, CNN, 28 Mar. 2024

Chambers and his friends discovered the animal, writhing on the ground. —David Peisner, Rolling Stone, 24 Mar. 2024

Social media buzzed and writhed with talk of doppelgängers. —Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 22 Mar. 2024

For the next scene, when her character is writhing in agony before dying, director Brian De Palma told her what to do. —Eric Andersson, Peoplemag, 19 Mar. 2024

One video showed someone apparently performing chest compressions on a shooting victim as another person, seemingly writhing in pain, lay on the ground nearby. —Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, arkansasonline.com, 15 Feb. 2024

Rozier fell to the court and immediately grabbed at his right knee, writhing in pain before the Heat’s training staff helped him to the locker room. —Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 12 Feb. 2024

Within moments, civilians lay strewn across the ground, some lifeless, others writhing in pain. —Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 9 Feb. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Old English wrīthan; akin to Old Norse rītha to twist

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a

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Kids Definition

writhe

verb

ˈrīt͟h 

writhed; writhing

: to twist and turn this way and that

writhe in pain