wring

verb \ ˈriŋ \

Updated on: 14 Apr 2018

Definition of wring

wrung play \ˈrəŋ\; wringing play \ˈriŋ-iŋ\

transitive verb

1 : to squeeze or twist especially so as to make dry or to extract moisture or liquid

wring a towel dry

2 : to extract or obtain by or as if by twisting and compressing

wring water from a towel

wring a confession from the suspect

3 a : to twist so as to strain or sprain into a distorted shape

I could wring your neck

b : to twist together (clasped hands) as a sign of anguish

4 : to affect painfully as if by wringing : torment

a tragedy that wrings the heart

intransitive verb

: squirm, writhe

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wring

noun

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Examples of wring in a Sentence

I wrung the towel and hung it up to dry.
I wrung my hair and wrapped it in a towel.

Recent Examples of wring from the Web

Not long after her birth, Leon Kass, a prominent biologist and ethicist at the University of Chicago, wrung his hands about the then-revolutionary technology of joining sperm and egg outside the body.

— jason pontin, WIRED, "Science Is Getting Us Closer to the End of Infertility," 27 Mar. 2018
But the concessions wrung out of the participating countries turn out to be negligible at best.

— david dayen, The New Republic, "Trump’s Theater of Trade," 27 Mar. 2018
College administrators and conference commissioners are wringing their hands, trying to figure out how to bring the sport out of scandal.

— dan wolken, USA TODAY, "FBI scandal doesn't cast a pall over NCAA tournament. It lifts one," 14 Mar. 2018
The league office wrings its hands and talks tough about how there’s no place in the game for such things, but this is the third time in five years that such questions have been asked, so nothing changes.

— steve rosenbloom, chicagotribune.com, "A simple way to end the NFL's latest despicable behavior," 9 Mar. 2018
Eventually, this tableau is interrupted with a piece of unexpected news, and Maoz wrings even further drama (and some truly bleak comedy) from the disruption of the soldiers’ commiseration routine.

— david sims, The Atlantic, "Foxtrot Is a Dreamlike Interrogation of War," 27 Feb. 2018
The hate crime set off a predictable round of hand-wringing about how unlikely something like this was to happen on a place like Nantucket.

— adrian walker, BostonGlobe.com, "After museum defacing, what happens now on Nantucket?," 14 Mar. 2018
The bones of soaring birds can withstand high torsional forces—the twisting force made when wringing out a towel.

— roni dengler, Science | AAAS, "Winged dinosaur Archaeopteryx may have been the first self-powered flier," 13 Mar. 2018
Indeed, President Putin is happy to keep this administration wringing its hands while Iran moves in next door to Israel.

— herb jackson, USA TODAY, "Netanyahu praises President Trump's pledge to counter Iran aggression in Syria," 6 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'wring.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of wring

Middle English, from Old English wringan; akin to Old High German ringan to struggle, Lithuanian rengtis to bend down, Old English wyrgan to strangle — more at worry

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: before 12th century

in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

See Words from the same year