twang
Americanverb (used without object)
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to give out a sharp, vibrating sound, as the string of a musical instrument when plucked.
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to produce such a sound by plucking a stringed musical instrument.
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to have or produce a sharp, nasal tone, as the human voice.
verb (used with object)
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to cause to make a sharp, vibrating sound, as a string of a musical instrument.
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to produce (music) by plucking the strings of a musical instrument.
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to pluck the strings of (a musical instrument).
to twang a guitar.
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to speak with a sharp, nasal tone.
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to pull the string of (an archer's bow).
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to let fly (an arrow).
noun
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the sharp, ringing sound produced by plucking or suddenly releasing a tense string.
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a sound resembling this.
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an act of plucking or picking.
He gave his guitar strings a twang.
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a sharp, nasal tone, as of the human voice.
noun
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a sharp ringing sound produced by or as if by the plucking of a taut string
the twang of a guitar
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the act of plucking a string to produce such a sound
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a strongly nasal quality in a person's speech, esp in certain dialects
verb
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to make or cause to make a twang
to twang a guitar
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to strum (music, a tune, etc)
to twang on a guitar
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to speak or utter with a sharp nasal voice
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(intr) to be released or move with a twang
the arrow twanged away
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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twangsimple
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twangssimple
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have twangedperfect
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has twangedperfect
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am twangingprogressive
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are twangingprogressive
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is twangingprogressive
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have been twangingperfect progressive
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has been twangingperfect progressive
Past
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twangedsimple
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had twangedperfect
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was twangingprogressive
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were twangingprogressive
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had been twangingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of twang
First recorded in 1535–45; imitative
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:
On the one hand, his vocal stylings are well-suited to affect a slightly country twang — by way of Liverpool, of course.
From Salon ● Apr. 24, 2026
Wearing cowboy boots and a handlebar mustache, he had a Texas twang and a quiet, calm presence that disarmed suspects, eliciting confessions.
From Slate ● Apr. 6, 2026
A Midwestern twang is "a very feet on the ground, back in the heels of your boots type of accent", she said.
From Barron's ● Mar. 5, 2026
Breezy and soothing with a light twang, his singing style allowed for space, letting him take on the role of a storyteller.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 11, 2026
Then, from behind me, the echo of guitars and fiddles twang.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
A berimbau, the one-stringed percussion instrument prized in Bahia, Brazil, twangs its way through this song by Baden Powell and Vinicius de Moraes.
From New York Times ● Jun. 6, 2023
In one section of one song, a low, industrial hum rumbles beneath occasional guitar twangs and incomprehensible mumbling voices.
From The Verge ● Feb. 18, 2021
The song ends with her catching her breath, surrounded by barking dogs and high bass twangs, summit scaled.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 18, 2020
Level One Texas is the Texas most outsiders know, the cowboys and Tex-Mex and nasal twangs.
From Slate ● Jun. 20, 2018
The fence clangs and twangs like a weird musical instrument, and the nose of the truck begins to dip forward, revealing a gorge like a roller-coaster drop.
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
He added: "I ambitiously broke into a sprint, then that leg twanged and the other leg twanged and I knew something had gone seriously wrong with my hamstrings."
From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2023
With “Old Town Road,” Lil Nas X twanged country tropes over a trap beat, kicked off a yee-haw agenda and launched a pop career off the back of a novelty hit.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 26, 2022
As the opening bars twanged, I chuckled into the mike and asked, “Are you guys ready to be sad?”
From New York Times ● Jun. 13, 2017
Palace appear to be without an out-and-out striker too - although that seems to be down to advanced tactical thinking rather than any hamstrings being twanged.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 8, 2015
He unpacked a coil of metal that twanged and glittered from a steel box in his backpack.
From "The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm" by Nancy Farmer
Over a pleasantly discordant score of dreamy electronic chords and twanging banjos, Matthew finds pencil marks charting his growth as a child while these parents fuss over their own new baby.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 13, 2025
Ball, who is remembered in a statue in the Lancashire town of Lytham where he lived for more than 20 years, was famous for twanging his braces on stage, while saying: "Rock on, Tommy."
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2022
Cue another blast of banjo, twanging down the line from Dallas.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 24, 2019
What comes next is the kind of thing that works, as Jesús launches into the defiant tune “Born in Laredo,” driven by a twanging, sidewinding guitar.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 13, 2019
Line is twanging like the high string on a steel guitar as the fish rises up to the surface, pulling the skiff behind it.
From "The Young Man and the Sea" by Rodman Philbrick
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
