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Synonyms

twister

American  
[twis-ter] / ˈtwɪs tər /

noun

  • twisters
    plural
  1. a person or thing that twists.

  2. Informal. a whirlwind or tornado.

  3. Chiefly British Informal. a deceitful, unscrupulous person.


twister British  
/ ˈtwɪstə /

noun

  1. a swindling or dishonest person

  2. a person or thing that twists, such as a device used in making ropes

  3. an informal name for tornado

  4. a ball moving with a twisting motion

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of twister

1475–85; 1895–1900 twister for def. 2; twist + -er 1


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:

The advantage of the twister tap, as Hernández explained it, is how repeatable it is.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026

It was as if a twister had hit the terminal.

From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2026

But when a twister menaces their city, and Dad calls the boys while on the air, that goes viral and there’s actually a moral to the story.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2025

She was always more of a flipper than a twister, and Dennis sometimes landed on her neck from over-rotating her warm-up drills.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2024

But as I watched Dorothy’s house fly up into the air and spin around in the twister, I wasn’t so sure.

From "The First Rule of Punk" by Celia C. Pérez

Missouri bore the brunt of the twisters, which began to spawn on Friday.

From BBC ● Mar. 16, 2025

The latest twisters follow another powerful tornado which tore through a rural Iowa town and killed four people earlier in May.

From BBC ● May 27, 2024

Much of Houston was battered by winds of speeds up to 100 miles per hour, rivaling speeds seen during Hurricane Ike, with “some twisters mixed in,” the city’s mayor, John Whitmire, said at the briefing.

From New York Times ● May 16, 2024

Tuesday’s storms came a day after parts of the central United States were battered by heavy rain, strong winds, hail and twisters.

From Seattle Times ● May 7, 2024

High John stepped out of the fold of Old Familiar’s wings, his footsteps sending little twisters of dust spinning down the ramp.

From "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky" by Kwame Mbalia

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