wrest

1 of 2

verb

ˈrest 

wrested; wresting; wrests

transitive verb

1

: to pull, force, or move by violent wringing or twisting movements

2

: to gain with difficulty by or as if by force, violence, or determined labor

wrest

2 of 2

noun

1

: the action of wresting : wrench

2

archaic : a key or wrench used for turning pins in a stringed instrument (such as a piano)

Synonyms

Verb

• pry
• pull
• extract
• yank
• pluck

Examples of wrest in a Sentence

Verb

He tried to wrest control of the company from his uncle.

the boy wrested the book out of his sister's hands

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

In addition to these billions, the Trump Administration on July 22 also wrested from Japan a commitment to invest more than $550 billion in the United States. —Jane Swift, Fortune, 6 Aug. 2025

Do Democrats want to wrest back their old control of the news cycle, their ability to surf the culture? —David Weigel, semafor.com, 1 Aug. 2025

Noun

Trump on Friday also lodged insults again at Powell for not lowering interest rates, urging the central bank board to wrest control from him. —Alex Gangitano, The Hill, 1 Aug. 2025

Vargas furiously rushes to wrest remote control of the device from The Collective, which is only waiting until enough people are paying attention (via TV news report, social media and the like) to detonate. —Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 29 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

Verb

Middle English wrasten, wresten, from Old English wrǣstan; akin to Old Norse reista to bend and probably to Old English wrigian to turn — more at wry

First Known Use

Verb

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

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for wrest

• blessed
• blest
• breast
• chest
• crest
• dressed
• fest
• gest
• geste
• guessed
• jest
• lest

Kids Definition

wrest

verb

ˈrest

1

: to pull, force, or move by violent wringing or twisting movements

2

: to gain by or as if by force or violence

wrest power from the king