WRENCHED Synonyms: 59 Similar and Opposite Words

wrenched

verb

past tense of wrench

as in pulled

to move by or as if by a forceful rotation with one last sharp yank, he wrenched the lid off the bottle of ketchup

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

as in damaged

to injure by overuse, misuse, or pressure wrenched her shoulder by all of that heavy lifting

Synonyms & Similar Words

as in yanked

to separate or remove by forceful pulling wrenched the post out of the ground

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

reattached

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of wrenched The driver wrenched the Jeep to the left, arm over arm churning at the wheel. — Literary Hub, 22 Sep. 2026 After her Acura was rear-ended in May 2022, a car crash that wrenched her neck and back, Samantha Roper sought out a chiropractor. — Eric Adler, Kansas City Star, 21 Sep. 2026 The sibling drama, meanwhile, rather fades out of view amid these loftier goings-on; the film’s narrative begins to feel devised by the old parlor game Consequences, repeatedly wrenched in erratic new directions. — Guy Lodge, Variety, 31 Aug. 2026 Miriam had given her a heavy coat and wrenched open the silver door. — Rachel Yoder, New Yorker, 2 Aug. 2026 On a moonless night, that Alpha team crept silently from the statue’s belly and wrenched open the gates of Troy, decisively ending the war in their favor. — Hillary Busis, Vanity Fair, 15 July 2026 Henley wrenched away from her mother's grip, turned, and darted up the stairs again, leaving Emily and Kate in startled silence. — Carly Tagen-Dye, PEOPLE, 1 May 2026 Experts believe the crown’s flexible mount was strained when thieves wrenched it from its display through a narrow slot cut by the angle grinder, according to a report by the Louvre. — Laura Sharman, CNN Money, 6 Feb. 2026 And yet so much of the film community’s focus has been wrenched out of the past into an urgent present and uncertain future. — Ben Travers, IndieWire, 30 Jan. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for wrenched

Verb

Berkeley police said the long object Shrine pulled from his pocket while following Winograd into her apartment building was believed to be a barbecue lighter.

— Clara Harter, Los Angeles Times, 23 Sep. 2026
Saints follows Lali, a drifter and a thief, who is pulled back to Barcelona to face and care for her estranged mother Gloria.

— Zac Ntim, Deadline, 23 Sep. 2026

Definition of pulled

Verb

The catch is that the number of neutrons in the universe plummeted during the game, like chairs being yanked out of line.

— Cara Giovanetti, The Conversation, 25 Sep. 2026
However, multiple lab-wide reorganizations after NASA yanked its flagship Mars project increased the overhead for other projects like GRACE-Continuity.

— Ian James, Los Angeles Times, 24 Sep. 2026

Definition of yanked

Verb

Hardly decipherable, but the syllables tugged at the corner of my mind.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 22 Sep. 2026
But already the thought tugged at me that the scales that had turned were not celestial, but legal, the workings of the same system condemned in the camp as corrupt and broken.

— J. B. MacKinnon, Harpers Magazine, 22 Sep. 2026

Definition of tugged

Verb

During another strong El Nino in 1997, hundreds of people died when Hurricane Pauline tore across Mexico’s Pacific coast.

— John Raby, Chicago Tribune, 25 Sep. 2026
Three years later, former ESPN host Keith Olbermann celebrated when Aaron Rodgers tore his Achilles in the opening minutes of the Jets’ season.

— Bobby Burack OutKick, FOXNews.com, 24 Sep. 2026

Definition of tore

Verb

Somewhere nearby, in a dark office, an eavesdropping oreja has just jerked to attention on his hard little chair.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 3 Sep. 2026
Once the squid gather near the surface, lines fitted with bait are lowered into the water and rapidly jerked up and down to imitate small prey such as shrimp, triggering strikes before the catch is reeled aboard.

— Bojan Stojkovski, Interesting Engineering, 20 June 2026

Definition of jerked

Verb

Except a woman who knew both of them eventually grabbed Leigh and more or less threw her into Beck.

— Josephine Reisman, Vulture, 24 Sep. 2026
Two veteran training officers and new paramedic Cristina DeBiase grabbed their equipment and gurney while another EMT remained with the ambulance and attempted to move it through traffic.

— ABC News, ABC News, 23 Sep. 2026

Definition of grabbed

Verb

In fact, all four songs sound like they were plucked from previous albums like Midnights or The Tortured Poets Department.

— Maya Georgi, Rolling Stone, 28 Sep. 2026
Paired with a prominent pink lip and punctuating updo, the glam appeared as if it were plucked from an early 2000s look book.

— Kaleigh Werner, Footwear News, 24 Sep. 2026

Definition of plucked

Verb

Explosives ripped through the old bridge, sending it crashing into the Mississippi River as cheers rose from the crowd.

— Adam Harrington, CBS News, 29 Sep. 2026
So did trees—the Levitts ripped them out to ease the work of building crews (and then planted saplings after the homes were built).

— Daniel Immerwahr, New Yorker, 28 Sep. 2026

Definition of ripped

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wrench

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Style

“Wrenched.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wrenched. Accessed 1 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of wrenched

verb

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