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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.
Examples of writhe in a Sentence
Benjamin Royer, Oc Register, 25 Feb. 2026
The mesmerizing power of the booming sound in a southern Moroccan desert prompts the teeming bodies to writhe and dance in an ecstatic state.
—Randy Myers, Mercury News, 25 Feb. 2026
Judith Beheading Holofernes, in which the heroine, with just a bit of a wince, is pictured in mid-decapitation of the writhing enemy, anticipates the action thriller.
—Nicole Krauss, Harpers Magazine, 24 Feb. 2026
Snow was adamant about showing the blood and needles in the film as well as footage of himself writhing in pain on hospital beds and the frustration of waiting hours for doctors to provide adequate dosages of pain medication that can help him.
—Marissa Evans, Los Angeles Times, 23 Feb. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Writhe.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/writhe. Accessed 7 Mar. 2026.
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