Word.ws English Dictionary

clenching

clenching is the present participle and gerund of clench.

clenching is the alternative form of clinching.

Meaning of clench

Verb

clench (third-person singular simple present clenches, present participle clenching, simple past and past participle clenched)

  1. (ambitransitive) To grip or hold fast.
    • I clenched the rope in my teeth.
  2. (ambitransitive) To close tightly.
    • He clenched his fist in anger.

See all 6 meanings of clench

Meaning of clinching

Adjective

clinching (comparative more clinching, superlative most clinching)

  1. That settles something (such as an argument) definitely and conclusively.
    • ‘Yes,’ said Dick, with such a clinching period at the end that it seemed he was never going to add another word.1872, [Thomas Hardy], “VIII. Dick Meets His Father”, in Under the Greenwood Tree: A Rural Painting of the Dutch School, volume II, London: Tinsley Brothers, →OCLC, part II, page 16

See all 4 meanings of clinching

Noun

clenching (plural clenchings)

  1. The act by which something (a fist, a jaw, etc.) is clenched.
    • Many of the clenchings [of muscles] were uncoordinated, and one would guess that they occurred more and more as the sleep synchronized.1965, Edward J. Murray, Sleep, dreams, and arousal, page 151

Forms of clenching

Noun
pluralclenchings
Adjective
comparativemore clenching
superlativemost clenching

Phrases with clenching

Questions about clenching

What does clenching mean?
Clenching means the act by which something (a fist, a jaw, etc.) is clenched.
What is clenching the present participle and gerund of?
Clenching is the present participle and gerund of clench.
What part of speech is clenching?
Clenching is a noun.
What is the plural of clenching?
The plural of clenching is clenchings.

Words near clenching in the dictionary

  1. clenched one's fists
  2. clencher
  3. clenchers
  4. clenches
  5. clenches one's fists
  6. clenching
  7. clenching one's fists
  8. clenchings
  9. clenchpoop
  10. clenchpoops
  11. clencht

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: clenching (page history and authors); clench (page history and authors); clinching (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “clenching.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/clenching. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.