3 uses
(click/touch triangles for details)
Definition
to move in a twisting or contorted motion — often of a person when struggling or in pain
- As for Lucy, she was just as pretty and neat as she had been yesterday; no accidents ever happened to her clothes, and she was never uncomfortable in them, so that she looked with wondering pity at Maggie, pouting and writhing under the exasperating tucker.1.9 -- Book 1 Chapter 9 -- To Garum Firs (8% in)
- Tom had his terrible clutch on her conscience and her deepest dread; she writhed under the demonstrable truth of the character he had given to her conduct, and yet her whole soul rebelled against it as unfair from its incompleteness.5.5 -- Book 5 Chapter 5 -- The Cloven Tree (57% in)
- Maggie always writhed under this judgment of Tom's; she rebelled and was humiliated in the same moment; it seemed as if he held a glass before her to show her her own folly and weakness, as if he were a prophetic voice predicting her future fallings; and yet, all the while, she judged him in return; she said inwardly that he was narrow and unjust, that he was below feeling those mental needs which were often the source of the wrong-doing or absurdity that made her life a planless...6.4 -- Book 6 Chapter 4 -- Brother and Sister (74% in)
There are no more uses of "writhe" in The Mill on the Floss.
Typical Usage
(best examples)