wring
verb (used with object)
to twist forcibly.
was wringing
-
past progressiveof wring.past progressive
Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
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.
"She was wringing her hands. She was scared. I trusted them. And they've seriously let us down, and they've let her down. That's cruelty."
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2025
To be clear, I thought they were funny, so what I was wringing my hands over was that I was pretty sure that this made me a bad person.
From Slate ● Apr. 10, 2021
“I felt really ineffective as a public health person. I felt like I was wringing my hands and asking the woulda, shoulda, coulda questions, and that’s an uncomfortable place to be.”
From New York Times ● Nov. 9, 2020
When I first met Tamerlan Tsarnaev, now familiar as the elder of the two alleged Boston Marathon bombers, he gripped my hand like he was wringing out a rag.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 14, 2013
By that time Matt was wringing and twisting like a hen on a hot brick.
From "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston
