wreathe
Americanverb (used with object)
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wreathes,
present (3rd person singular)
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wreathed,
past participle, past
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wreathen,
past participle (Archaic)
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wreathing
present participle
verb
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to form into or take the form of a wreath by intertwining or twisting together
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(tr) to decorate, crown, or encircle with wreaths
-
to move or cause to move in a twisting way
smoke wreathed up to the ceiling
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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wreathesimple
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wreathessimple
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have wreathedperfect
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have wreathenperfect
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has wreathedperfect
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has wreathenperfect
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am wreathingprogressive
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are wreathingprogressive
-
is wreathingprogressive
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have been wreathingperfect progressive
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has been wreathingperfect progressive
Past
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wreathedsimple
-
had wreathedperfect
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had wreathenperfect
-
was wreathingprogressive
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were wreathingprogressive
-
had been wreathingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of wreathe
1520–30; earlier wrethe, partly v. use of wreath, partly back formation from wrethen, obsolete past participle of writhe
Vocabulary lists containing wreathe
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:
But if she and her wreathe of shadow-selves are looking for labels, “writer” suits them all just fine.
From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2017
Two bizarre plotlines wreathe around each other in “The Dark Room.”
From Washington Post ● Jan. 6, 2017
About 1,300 active satellites wreathe the globe in a crowded nest of orbits, providing worldwide communications, GPS navigation, weather forecasting and planetary surveillance.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 10, 2015
His bald head is radiant, his skull capacious, and the black hair at his temples resembles nothing so much as the laurel leaves that used to wreathe the heads of victorious Roman generals.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 16, 2012
Even at her age she still feels the urge to wreathe herself in flowers.
From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood
Several wreathes were completely burnt in the fire and Edinburgh's Stone of Remembrance blackened with soot.
From BBC ● Nov. 14, 2022
"It has come up before that the wreathes themselves are purchased from a related entity," he said.
From Fox News ● Dec. 14, 2021
Stockings hang, wreathes festoon, toy soldiers stand at attention.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 23, 2016
There was the Instagram tribute, a picture of wreathes in front of the building named for Tillman, “honoring” the victims of the shooting in the Charleston church.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 9, 2015
Scattered around it were faded wreathes and crushed bouquets of plastic flowers, which made the place seem even sadder.
From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan
Jesus's first goal since January 1 left Arteta wreathed in smiles and Watkins' close-range strike in stoppage-time couldn't stop Arsenal revelling in their statement victory.
From Barron's ● Dec. 30, 2025
Mr. Chen shows the family trundling in a horse-drawn cart toward forbidding mountains wreathed in mist.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2025
Rescue workers, wreathed in smoke, stood by a pair of excavators digging through a mountain of rubble — the wreckage of an eight-story, 16-apartment building.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2024
Across the valley, Mount Stuart is wreathed in clouds.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 1, 2023
There’d been no breeze off the harbor that day, and a gray milk fog had wreathed the city’s canals and crooked alleys in damp.
From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo
The latter is completely concealed in a May-bush, wears a wooden crown wreathen with flowers, and carries a wooden sword.
From The Golden Bough by Sir James George Frazer
And over the heads of the twain did hover winged Cupids and watched them laughingly, whiles fair dames and their gallants, their brows wreathen with flowers, footed it on the lush grass.
From The Merrie Tales of Jacques Tournebroche And Child Life in Town and Country by A. R. (Alfred Richard) Allinson
He got up and pointed out the window to somewhere hidden in the gray clouds wreathing the mountains overlooking Kfar Chouba.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 7, 2026
Working with the cinematographer Ruben Impens, they give you a sense of tangible place as they plot the area’s profound geometry, roam across its shimmering glacial snow and catch the backlit mist wreathing the mountains.
From New York Times ● Apr. 27, 2023
We went south to Glenwood Springs and spent hours splashing in the hot mineral water, the steam wreathing our heads, the crystalline January day all around us.
From Salon ● Sep. 26, 2018
It is just one of three fires wreathing parts of the Golden State in smoke.
From Economist ● Aug. 18, 2016
Grinning skeletons in Greek armor crowded around me, draping me with silk robes, wreathing my head with laurels that smoked with Chimera poison, burning into my scalp.
From "The Lightning Thief" by Rick Riordan
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.
