Twisting

How to spell twisting

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce twisting

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does twisting mean?

1. verbTurning, winding, or wringing something around or out of its usual shape.
2. adjectiveFull of bends, turns, or curves rather than running straight.

Twisting in a sentence

• verb

  She kept twisting the cap until the bottle finally opened.

• adjective

  The twisting mountain road slowed the delivery van to a crawl.

• verb

  He was twisting the wire into a tight loop for the repair.

• adjective

  A narrow, twisting staircase led up to the attic office.

Where does twisting come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word grows from the Old English root that gave us 'twist', a noun and verb tied to the idea of a divided or doubled thread. The earliest senses related to the number two, since twisting originally meant bringing two strands together by turning them around each other, and the same family lies behind 'twin' and 'between'. The Germanic ancestor carried the broad sense of 'two' or 'divided object', which is why a twist always involves things wound or coiled together. By the late Middle Ages the verb had spread to mean turning, wringing, or winding anything, from rope to a path through hills. The form 'twisting' is simply that verb with the ordinary -ing ending, used both as the act of turning and as a description of something full of bends; the spelling is phonetic and regular, so the only mild trap is remembering the single 't' before the ending rather than doubling it.

How the word is built

• twist (turn, wring)
• -ing (present participle / verbal adjective suffix)