Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb Present participle of wrench.
  • noun The act by which something is wrenched.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective causing great physical or mental suffering

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Mr. Obama said he is confident that both sides can agree to his goal of a secure Jewish state of Israel and a sovereign state of Palestine, but warned that it will require what he called "wrenching compromise" from both sides.

    Palestinians to Pursue UN Recognition of Statehood 2011

  • Mr. Obama said he is confident that both sides can agree to his goal of a secure Jewish state of Israel and a sovereign state of Palestine, but warned that it will require what he called "wrenching compromise" from both sides.

    Palestinians to Pursue UN Recognition of Statehood 2011

  • They will crimp economic growth and require what he calls wrenching changes.

    CNN Transcript Jun 24, 2004 2004

  • Museum of Art before retiring at the end of 2008, in what he called a wrenching decision.

    NYT > Home Page 2010

  • This story while heart wrenching is probably not true.

    Walsmart « BuzzMachine 2006

  • Particularly heart wrenching is this account of Guthrie's wife by one of the rescuers: “I was told that she was shining a flashlight out the window to give him light to work and she turned away for a second and when she looked back the slide came down and hit the back of the house.”

    Landscape architects as landscapes 2006

  • Particularly heart wrenching is this account of Guthrie's wife by one of the rescuers: “I was told that she was shining a flashlight out the window to give him light to work and she turned away for a second and when she looked back the slide came down and hit the back of the house.”

    Archive 2006-06-01 2006

  • And I was caught in the speed of the turns, riding the heat and force of the paddle, crying aloud in short wrenching bursts, the crowd clapping and shouting and chanting.

    Beauty's Punishment Rice, Anne 1984

  • He made a violent effort to raise himself into a sitting position, and merely succeeded in wrenching his body painfully.

    Nineteen Eighty-Four 1949

  • In early 2006, Ford dubbed a wrenching restructuring, "The Way Forward."

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed BERNIE WOODALL 2012

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