wrest

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His restless spirit, ever eager for change, seized upon the present moment as a fitting opportunity to wrest from the Dutch their portion of Long Island, and pass it over to his countrymen.

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Definitions (18)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (7)

  1. transitive verb To obtain by or as if by pulling with violent twisting movements: wrested the book out of his hands; wrested the islands from the settlers.
  2. transitive verb To usurp forcefully: wrested power from the monarchy.
  3. transitive verb To extract by or as if by force, twisting, or persistent effort; wring: wrest the meaning from an obscure poem.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (8)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples (50)

  • It may be that Peter had some of these hard shells in mind when he said: “Our beloved brother Paul hath written many things hard to be understood; which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they also do the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.” The Lord forbid that I should thus do with any of the Scriptures. —  Life and Labors of Elder John Kline, the Martyr Missionary
  • The PCs have patterned lids too, in pink, blue, green and black as well as a white carbon-fiber wrist wrest, which is a boon for those of you who regularly wear out your wrist rest (wait ... what?) —  Original Signal - Transmitting Gadgets
  • This officer had largely contributed to prevent the success of the siege of St. Jean d'Acre; he was proud of it, and had devised a ruse de guerre by taking advantage of a momentary weakness to wrest from the French their valuable conquest. —  History of Egypt From 330 B.C. To the Present Time, Volume 12 (of 12)
  • It may be that Peter had some of these hard shells in mind when he said: "Our beloved brother Paul hath written many things hard to be understood; which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they also do the other scriptures, unto their own destruction." —  Life and Labors of Elder John Kline, the Martyr Missionary Collated from his Diary by Benjamin Funk
  • I had told her all my plans for the future, and as, like me, she despised the world and human beings, she had approved those plans and solemnly vowed by the memory of her mother, murdered by want, famine, and grief, to avenge herself with me upon society--wrest from it what formerly it had so cruelly denied: wealth, honor, and distinction And I think I have kept my oath," she said earnestly. —  A Conspiracy of the Carbonari
 

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

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same contextWord Family

wrest:   wrested
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 (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English wresten, from Old English wrǣstan, to twist; see wer-2 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English wresten, wrasten, wræsten, from Anglo-Saxon wrǣstan, twist forcibly (cf. Anglo-Saxon wrǣst, firm, strong, = Icelandic reista, wrest; cf. Danish vriste, wrest); prob., with formative -t (- tht later -st), from wrīthan (preterit wrāth), writhe, twist: see writhe, and cf. wreath. Cf. also wrist, wrestle.
  2. from Middle English wrest, wreste, wrast; from the verb.
 

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/rɛst/
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