twister
Americannoun
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a person or thing that twists.
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Informal. a whirlwind or tornado.
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Chiefly British Informal. a deceitful, unscrupulous person.
noun
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a swindling or dishonest person
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a person or thing that twists, such as a device used in making ropes
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an informal name for tornado
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a ball moving with a twisting motion
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.
Nearby residents described how “the storm roared and the house was shaking” when the twister spun through.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 27, 2025
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
A satellite photo taken by a BlackSky Technology shows where the twister gouged a nearly straight path of destruction through the town, just south of Greenfield’s center square.
From Seattle Times • May 22, 2024
My mind feels like it’s been caught up in a violent twister.
From "Starfish" by Akemi Dawn Bowman
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.
