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TWISTING
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The act of rotating rapidly
Example:
it broke off after much twisting
Synonyms:
spin; twirl; twist; twisting; whirl
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("twisting" is a kind of...):
rotary motion; rotation (the act of rotating as if on an axis)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "twisting"):
pirouette ((ballet) a rapid spin of the body (especially on the toes as in ballet))
birling; logrolling (rotating a log rapidly in the water (as a competitive sport))
Sense 2
Meaning:
The act of distorting something so it seems to mean something it was not intended to mean
Synonyms:
distortion; overrefinement; straining; torture; twisting
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("twisting" is a kind of...):
falsification; misrepresentation (a willful perversion of facts)
Derivation:
twist (practice sophistry; change the meaning of or be vague about in order to mislead or deceive)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Marked by repeated turns and bends
Example:
had to steer the car down a twisty track
Synonyms:
tortuous; twisting; twisty; voluminous; winding
Classified under:
Similar:
crooked (having or marked by bends or angles; not straight or aligned)
III. (verb)
Sense 1
-ing form of the verb twist
Context examples:
His face strove to compose itself, writhing and twisting in the effort till he broke down again.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
Then, amongst the sticks themselves, appeared a live thing, twisting and turning, of a colour like the colour of the sun in the sky.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (AIMS) Trunk Movements, Neck, shoulders, hips, e.g., rocking, twisting, squirming, pelvic gyrations.
(AIMS - Neck, Shoulders, Hips, NCI Thesaurus)
The basic movements of the material, shaped into films, sponges, and hydrogels, are induced by nearby permanent or electromagnets and can exhibit as bending, twisting, and expansion.
(New Materials Developed by Scientists Able to Move in Response to Light, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
The two Cunninghams were bending over the prostrate figure of Sherlock Holmes, the younger clutching his throat with both hands, while the elder seemed to be twisting one of his wrists.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Joe had clinched and attempted to throw him, and he was twisting and writhing out of the advantage of the other's hold.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
Syndrome dominated by involuntary, sustained or spasmodic, patterned, and repetitive muscle contractions; frequently causing twisting, flexing or extending, and squeezing movements or abnormal postures.
(Dystonia, NIH CRISP Thesaurus)
That evening while Meg was writing to her father to report the traveler's safe arrival, Jo slipped upstairs into Beth's room, and finding her mother in her usual place, stood a minute twisting her fingers in her hair, with a worried gesture and an undecided look.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
Not without cause was this sentiment: Mrs. Reed looked frightened; her work had slipped from her knee; she was lifting up her hands, rocking herself to and fro, and even twisting her face as if she would cry.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
All my old doubts and apprehensions on that subject, all the Doctor's happiness and peace, all the mingled possibilities of innocence and compromise, that I could not unravel, I saw, in a moment, at the mercy of this fellow's twisting.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
