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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
Melissa Ruggieri, USA Today, 8 June 2025
Even in the shade of a fruit tree, you could be surrounded by tiny skyscrapers — not made of steel or concrete, but of microscopic worms wriggling and writhing into the shape of long, vertical towers.
—Kameryn Griesser, CNN Money, 5 June 2025
Referees whistled a foul on fifth-year forward Chandler Prater as Watkins writhed in pain and clutched her knee on the ground.
—Sabreena Merchant, The Athletic, 25 Mar. 2025
Cabrera writhed in pain in the dirt and appeared to be really hurt.
—Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 13 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for writhe
Cite this Entry
“Writhe.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/writhe. Accessed 1 Jul. 2025.
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