wring

verb \ ˈriŋ \

|Updated on: 17 Aug 2018

Examples: wring in a Sentence

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

Ant-Man and the Wasp revels in wringing joy from mundane items—a giant salt shaker is a weapon in one scene, as is an inflated Hello Kitty Pez dispenser in another.

— david sims, The Atlantic, "Ant-Man and the Wasp," 5 July 2018
Trump on Wednesday softened proposed limits on China’s right to invest in U.S. technology companies, the latest sign of an on-again, off-again trade war that is raising doubts about his ability to wring concessions from Beijing.

— tory newmyer, Washington Post, "The Finance 202: Kennedy retirement isn't a game changer for corporate America," 28 June 2018
Washington’s latest hard-line approach, Chinese officials said, isn’t going to wring concessions from China.

— yoko kubota, WSJ, "China Warns of Corporate Casualties as Trade War Brews," 15 June 2018
This has prompted protests from Asian Americans who feel this policy disproportionately hurts them, as well as hand-wringing from graduates of these schools, who believe the move will lower the quality of the education at these institutions.

— alvin chang, Vox, "The fraught racial politics of entrance exams for elite high schools," 14 June 2018
Let the ruins, perched high above Madrid, serve as a warning to a nation riven by enmity and to any citizen who might wish for a dictator like Franco, a murderous strongman who would try to wring immortality from a shrine full of the dead.

— matías costa, Smithsonian, "The Battle Over the Memory of the Spanish Civil War," 28 June 2018
The shift suggests that the administration is looking for additional leverage from Asian allies in its efforts to wring concessions from Beijing.

— michael holtz, The Christian Science Monitor, "US versus China: How a tussle for advantage fuels risk of a trade war," 12 Apr. 2018
Though the show wrung dramatic tension out of Mike's secret from the beginning, the overall sense was that its quippy central duo would get away with everything, because Harvey is just that damn good.

— emma dibdin, Harper's BAZAAR, "'Suits' Star Gabriel Macht On The Show's Move From Glossy To Grounded," 6 Mar. 2017
But the tent is not the only way that Tesla has tried to pack more equipment into its Fremont facilities, or wring more out of them.

— david r. baker, SFChronicle.com, "Tesla’s rush to crank up production revealed in building permits," 28 June 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

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