clench

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“
She saw his hands clench, and the great muscles in his arms and shoulders swell.

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Definitions (12)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (7)

  1. transitive verb To close tightly: clench one's teeth; clenched my fists in anger.
  2. transitive verb To grasp or grip tightly: clenched the steering wheel.
  3. transitive verb To clinch (a bolt, for example).
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Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • Jehan felt his eyestalks clench, and forced them outward in anger. —  Analog July, 1974
  • Dana's clench was smothering, but Roy found he could still move his lower legs. —  Hoot
  • For a while he'd tried molding himself into the tragic Romantic hero, brooding and staring clench-jawed off into space as he composed dark verse in his head. —  Christopher Moore - You Suck
  • The claws refuse to clench, though they are made,  Are always made in readiness to strike  The rock, and spark the flint. —  SON OF A WITCH
  • The thought made his body clench, and flesh that had begun to ebb surged to hot life again. —  Chapter1Rabbit
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This word has been looked up 122 times.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

contort ·  taut ·  shuttered ·  tight ·  constrict ·  tense ·  calloused ·  numb ·  sweaty ·  bony ·  rigid ·  horny

Used in the same contextWord Family

clench:   clenched ·  clenches
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (1)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English clenchen, from Old English beclencan.
 

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/klɛntʃ, klɪntʃ/
by American Heritage

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