writhing
part of speech
verb, -ing form of writhe (writhe, writhes, writhed, writhing); adjective (writhing)
meaning for a pupil
1) Twisting and turning the body, usually because of pain, or wriggling like a snake or worm. tree →
2) Feeling very embarrassed or upset: «writhing with embarrassment». tree →
3) Writhing can also describe something, such as smoke, that twists and curls through the air. tree →
sense in the lessons
In stories, a character writhing on the ground is in great pain; snakes and worms writhe. In Alice in Wonderland, the Mock Turtle says that at school under the sea he learned «Reeling and Writhing» — a pun on reading and writing — and «the different branches of Arithmetic — Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision» (puns on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division). If someone is writhing in pain, get help from an adult fast.
examples
- The worm was writhing on the path. tree →
- The Mock Turtle learned Reeling and Writhing at school. tree →
- He lay writhing in pain after the fall. tree →
- The snake writhed as it slid across the sand. tree →
- She was writhing with embarrassment. tree →
- Call 999 (or 911, 112, 000, 111 in NZ) if someone is writhing in pain and badly hurt. tree →
- They saw a blue smoke rising, writhing upward till it vanished in the blue ether. tree →
note
Verb writhe: writhed, writhing (drop the e). The w is silent: «RYE-thing». Pun: Reeling and Writhing = reading and writing.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «writhing» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.