wrench
Americanverb (used with object)
-
wrenches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
wrenched,
past participle, past
-
wrenching
present participle
-
to twist suddenly and forcibly; pull, jerk, or force by a violent twist.
He wrenched the prisoner's wrist.
-
to overstrain or injure (the ankle, knee, etc.) by a sudden, violent twist.
When she fell, she wrenched her ankle.
-
to affect distressingly as if by a wrench.
-
to wrest, as from the right use or meaning.
to wrench the facts out of context.
verb (used without object)
-
wrenches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
wrenched,
past participle, past
-
wrenching
present participle
-
to twist, turn, or move suddenly aside.
He wrenched away.
-
to give a wrench or twist at something.
noun
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wrenches
plural
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a wrenching movement; a sudden, violent twist.
With a quick wrench, she freed herself.
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a painful, straining twist, as of the ankle or wrist.
-
a sharp, distressing strain, as to the feelings.
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a twisting or distortion, as of meaning.
-
a tool for gripping and turning or twisting the head of a bolt, a nut, a pipe, or the like, commonly consisting of a bar of metal with fixed or adjustable jaws.
verb
-
to give (something) a sudden or violent twist or pull esp so as to remove (something) from that to which it is attached
to wrench a door off its hinges
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(tr) to twist suddenly so as to sprain (a limb)
to wrench one's ankle
-
(tr) to give pain to
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(tr) to twist from the original meaning or purpose
-
(intr) to make a sudden twisting motion
noun
-
a forceful twist or pull
-
an injury to a limb, caused by twisting
-
sudden pain caused esp by parting
-
a parting that is difficult or painful to make
-
a distorting of the original meaning or purpose
-
a spanner, esp one with adjustable jaws See also torque wrench
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
wrenchsimple
-
wrenchessimple
-
have wrenchedperfect
-
has wrenchedperfect
-
am wrenchingprogressive
-
are wrenchingprogressive
-
is wrenchingprogressive
-
have been wrenchingperfect progressive
-
has been wrenchingperfect progressive
Past
-
wrenchedsimple
-
had wrenchedperfect
-
was wrenchingprogressive
-
were wrenchingprogressive
-
had been wrenchingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of wrench
before 1050; Middle English wrenchen (v.), Old English wrencan to twist, turn; cognate with German renken
Explanation
To wrench means to grab or pull something with a lot of physical force. See this teddy bear? If you want it, you’ll have to wrench it out of my hands, because I’m not willing to give it up. Maybe you have a wrench at home, that is, a hand tool that is used to hold or twist a nut or a pipe joint. If so, you also have a great way to remember what wrench the verb means. Just imagine you're twisting with a wrench, except instead of using a tool, you’re using your hands. If something is heart wrenching, it makes you feel very sad. If you wrench a part of your body, you strain, pull or twist it, injuring yourself in some way.
Vocabulary lists containing wrench
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Thad Kousser, a UC-San Diego political science professor, said that electing election skeptics to office doesn’t necessarily mean that they will throw a wrench into the process.
From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2026
By precisely measuring that motion and the associated gravitational torque, the researchers could calculate one value for G. Torque is simply a twisting force, similar to the force used when turning a wrench.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026
This latest injury could throw a wrench in that.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
That worked until the Iran war threw a wrench in gold’s momentum, with rising oil prices raising worries about inflation and expectations for Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
As Taran gave a final wrench, the scabbard turned in his hand.
From "The Book of Three" by Lloyd Alexander
At every turn, it shows its people trusting each other, taking care of each other, and dealing with the unexpected wrenches and scripts that would break most devices.
From Salon ● Jun. 28, 2026
Every trade show, whether promoting wrenches or weathervanes, is a vibrant advertisement for capitalism.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 18, 2026
The space is a horseshoe-shaped echo of Wool’s work — raw, agitated — and the restless elegance he wrenches from a feeling of decay.
From New York Times ● May 2, 2024
Spokespeople for the Insurance Information Institute and the Personal Insurance Federation of California regularly opine to reporters that Rosenfield, Balber and the group’s president, Jamie Court, are wrenches in the underwriting machinery.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 1, 2024
The workers carried oversized wrenches, cranks, and other tools, and were using them to make adjustments on some unseen apparatus beneath the water’s surface.
From "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart
Ireland, winners against Scotland earlier in the day, watched on in Dublin, seeing the title wrenched out of their grasp in the final act of an enthralling edition of the sport's oldest international championship.
From BBC ● Mar. 14, 2026
While the S&P 500 has wrenched up and down but gone pretty much nowhere this year, international, emerging-market, small stocks and value stocks have taken off.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 24, 2026
Now we know with painful clarity what it is to be wrenched from our homes.
From Slate ● Feb. 6, 2025
He dove into the waves and wrenched us back aboard somehow.
From Salon ● May 11, 2024
The gap he’d squeezed through on his descent had been wrenched open, and before it stood Renn, a small, upright figure, incredibly brave, taking aim with her last arrow at the thing looming over her.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
Because of ongoing health issues, Mike Leigh has said that this warm and wrenching drama will be his last movie.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026
“We’re going to go through a fairly wrenching time.”
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 31, 2026
Rangers were obviously hoping reuniting McInnes with Lawrence Shankland would be a winning formula after they went so close to wrenching the title away from Celtic while at Hearts last season.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
A president with 70%-plus approval ratings now faces some wrenching decisions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 30, 2026
The most wrenching thing, however, was our shrunken size: three days earlier, when we had ascended this terrain we’d numbered eleven; now there were only six of us.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
