wrest

1 of 2

verb

wrested; wresting; wrests

transitive verb

1
: to pull, force, or move by violent wringing or twisting movements
2
: to gain with difficulty by or as if by force, violence, or determined labor

wrest

2 of 2

noun

1
: the action of wresting : wrench
2
archaic : a key or wrench used for turning pins in a stringed instrument (such as a piano)

Examples of wrest in a Sentence

Verb He tried to wrest control of the company from his uncle. the boy wrested the book out of his sister's hands
Recent Examples on the Web
Verb
Lebanon’s Army will have to try to wrest power from, and replace, Hezbollah. Robin Wright, The New Yorker, 28 Sep. 2024 Tom Rothman wrested the project away from Harvey Weinstein years ago at Fox — Frank Loesser’s widow Jo would not grant the necessary approvals until that happened — and the project traveled with Rothman to Sony. Mike Fleming Jr, Deadline, 24 Sep. 2024
Noun
There are intriguing political goings-on in other Western states, too: In a remarkable lawsuit filed directly with the U.S. Supreme Court, Utah is seeking to wrest control of about one-third of the state’s land from the federal government. Sammy Roth, Los Angeles Times, 12 Sep. 2024 Rossman said one of Niccol’s first challenges will be to wrest control from the (coffee) bean counters who have pursued the short-term returns strategy that finally ran out of steam. Peter Green, Quartz, 31 Aug. 2024 See all Example Sentences for wrest 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'wrest.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Verb

Middle English wrasten, wresten, from Old English wrǣstan; akin to Old Norse reista to bend and probably to Old English wrigian to turn — more at wry

First Known Use

Verb

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of wrest was before the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near wrest

Cite this Entry

“Wrest.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wrest. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

Kids Definition

wrest

verb
ˈrest
1
: to pull, force, or move by violent wringing or twisting movements
2
: to gain by or as if by force or violence
wrest power from the king

More from Merriam-Webster on wrest

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