noun
Meaning 1
The act of wresting; a wrench or twist; distortion.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
wrest
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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rĕst
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/ɹɛst/
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Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -ɛst
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homophone: rest
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CMU ARPABET: R EH1 S T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
A key to tune a stringed instrument.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
Active or motive power.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
Ellipsis of saw wrest (“a hand tool for setting the teeth of a saw, determining the width of the kerf”); a saw set.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, obsolete, rare
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
A partition in a water wheel by which the form of the buckets is determined.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 6
A metal (formerly wooden) piece of some ploughs attached under the mouldboard (the curved blade that turns over the furrow) for clearing out the furrow; the mouldboard itself.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: dated, dialectal
Topics: agriculture, business, lifestyle
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 7
To pull or twist violently.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 8
To obtain by pulling or violent force.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
Examples
- He wrested the remote control from my grasp and changed the channel.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 9
To seize.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 10
To distort, to pervert, to twist.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 11
To tune with a wrest, or key.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 12
obtain by seizing forcibly or violently, also metaphorically
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- wrest the knife from his hands
- wrest a meaning from the old text
- wrest power from the old government
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: seize
History
Etymology
From Middle English wresten, wrasten, wræsten, from Old English wrǣstan (“to twist forcibly, wrench”), from Proto-Germanic *wraistijaną, (compare Proto-Germanic *wrīhaną (“to turn, wind; to cover, envelop”), *wrīþaną (“to weave, twist”), Old Norse reista (“to bend, twist”)), from a derivative of Proto-Indo-European *wreiḱ-, *wreyḱ- (“to bend, twist”), *wreyt- (“to bend”). See also writhe, wry. The noun is derived from the verb.
Possibly a variant of wrist: see the quotation. Wrist is also derived from *wrīþaną (“to weave, twist”), from a derivative of Proto-Indo-European *wreiḱ-, *wreyḱ- (“to bend, twist”), *wreyt- (“to bend”).
A misspelling of rest, probably influenced by wrest (etymology 1, verb and noun).
Across languages
Translations
30 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bulgarian: извивам (izvivam) — to pull or twist violently
- Dutch: wringen — to pull or twist violently
- Spanish: retorcer — to pull or twist violently
- Woiwurrung: koorrbak — to pull or twist violently
- Arabic: اِنْتَزَعَ (intazaʕa) — to obtain by pulling or violent force
- Bulgarian: изтръгвам (iztrǎgvam) — to obtain by pulling or violent force
- Cebuano: ilog — to obtain by pulling or violent force
- Czech: vyrvat — to obtain by pulling or violent force
- Czech: vykroutit — to obtain by pulling or violent force
- Dutch: wegrukken — to obtain by pulling or violent force
- Dutch: losrukken — to obtain by pulling or violent force
- Finnish: riistää — to obtain by pulling or violent force
- French: arracher — to obtain by pulling or violent force
- Galician: arrancar — to obtain by pulling or violent force
- German: entreißen — to obtain by pulling or violent force
- Ido: arachar — to obtain by pulling or violent force
- Ido: extorsar — to obtain by pulling or violent force
- Italian: estorcere — to obtain by pulling or violent force
- Italian: carpire — to obtain by pulling or violent force
- Italian: spillare — to obtain by pulling or violent force
- Māori: whakariro — to obtain by pulling or violent force
- Norwegian: fravriste — to obtain by pulling or violent force
- Occitan: arrapar — to obtain by pulling or violent force
- Occitan: arrancar — to obtain by pulling or violent force
- Polish: wyrywać — to obtain by pulling or violent force
- Polish: wyrwać — to obtain by pulling or violent force
- Portuguese: arrancar — to obtain by pulling or violent force
- Russian: вы́рвать (výrvatʹ) — to obtain by pulling or violent force
- Russian: вырыва́ть (vyryvátʹ) — to obtain by pulling or violent force
- Spanish: arrancar — to obtain by pulling or violent force