clinch
/klɪnt͡ʃ/
clinch verb: to bend and hammer the point of (a nail) so it cannot be removed.
Verb
clinch (third-person singular simple present clinches, present participle clinching, simple past and past participle clinched)
- To bend and hammer the point of (a nail) so it cannot be removed.
- To clasp; to interlock.
- “Beloved shipmates, clinch the last verse of the first chapter of Jonah—‘And God had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah.’”1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 9, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC
- To fasten securely or permanently.
- To make certain; to finalize.
- I already planned to buy the car, but the color was what really clinched it for me.
- Vincent Kompany was sent off after conceding a penalty that was converted by Stephen Hunt to give Wolves hope. But Adam Johnson's curling shot in stoppage time clinched the points.2011 October 29, Neil Johnston, “Norwich 3 - 3 Blackburn”, in BBC Sport
- To hold firmly; to clench
- To set closely together; to close tightly.
- to clinch the teeth or the fist
- [T]ry if the heads of the nails [of horseshoes] be fast, and whether they be well clinched; if not, send presently for a smith; always stand by while the smith is employed.1731 (date written, published 1745), Jonathan Swift, “[Directions to Servants.] The Duty of Servants at Inns.”, in Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […]...
- To hold a boxing opponent with one or both arms so as to avoid being hit while resting momentarily
- To secure a spot (e.g., at the divisional championship) before the end of regular season play by having an insurmountable lead.
- It put the U.S. on the brink of clinching a spot in the quarterfinals.2023 August 31, Seattle Times
- To embrace passionately.
Noun
clinch (plural clinches)
- Any of several fastenings.
- The act of bending and hammering the point of a nail so it cannot be removed.
- The act or process of holding fast; that which serves to hold fast.
- to get a good clinch of an antagonist, or of a weapon
- to secure anything by a clinch
- A pun.
- Synonyms:
- clench
- A hitch or bend by which a rope is made fast to the ring of an anchor, or the breeching of a ship's gun to the ringbolts.
- A passionate embrace.
- More likely, he was letting her know that his visit this morning was not going to end in a clinch—or something steamier. It was going to be about sitting at a table, drinking coffee and talking.2015, Judith Arnold, Moondance
- So, then, to the health secretary’s “steamy clinch” with Gina Coladangelo, the lobbyist and long-term friend he took on as an aide last year […]2021 June 25, Marina Hyde, “Matt Hancock, the one-time sex cop now busted for a dodgy clinch”, in The Guardian
- The act of one or both fighters holding onto the other to prevent being hit or engage in standup grappling.
- A prison sentence.
- COOMBE: He got the clinch only last week — eighteen months. You see it's no good having anybody here as ain't got a^([sic]) unblemished character. We don't want to have the bluebottles come sniffing round here, do we?1882, Henry Herman, Henry Arthur Jones, The Silver King
Proper noun capitalized: Clinch
Clinch
clinch meaning in Bengali, Malayalam, Kannada and Thai
clinch in Bengali
- চূড়ান্তভাবে স্থির করা, জড়িয়ে ধরা
clinch in Malayalam
- conclude, secure, settle
- ഉറപ്പിക്കുക, കരാറുറപ്പിക്കുക, ഇടപാടുറപ്പിക്കുക, സ്ഥിരപ്പെടുത്തുക, ഉറപ്പുവരുത്തുക, സുദൃഢമാക്കുക
- settle, decide, determine
- അവസാന തീരുമാനത്തിൽ എത്തുക, തീർച്ചചെയ്യുക, തീരുമാനിക്കുക, നിശ്ചയിക്കുക, ഉറപ്പിക്കുക, ഉറയ്ക്കുക
- win, secure, be victorious
- നേടുക, വിജയിക്കുക, വിജയിയാകുക, ഒന്നാംസ്ഥനത്തെത്തുക, വശമാക്കുക, വെല്ലുക
- fasten, secure, fix
- സുരക്ഷിതമാക്കുക, ആണിയടിച്ചുറപ്പിക്കുക, കെട്ടിയുറപ്പിക്കുക, ദൃഢമായിബന്ധിക്കുക, ഉറപ്പിക്കുക, കൂട്ടിക്കെട്ടുക
clinch in Kannada
- ಮುಕ್ತಾಯಗೊಳಿಸು, ಕೊನೆಗಾಣಿಸು
clinch in Thai
- combat sports
- จับคอ
Examples of clinch in a sentence
- He managed to beat the offside trap and clinch the winner.
- The referee ordered the boxers to break the clinch.
- The referee broke the boxers' clinch.
Synonyms of clinch
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of clinch
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | clinches |
| present participle | clinching |
| past participle | clinched |
| past | clinched |
| Noun | |
| plural | clinches |
Origin of clinch
16th-century alteration of clench.
Words formed from clinch
Phrases with clinch
Words that rhyme with clinch
Questions about clinch
- What does clinch mean?
- Clinch means to bend and hammer the point of (a nail) so it cannot be removed.
- What is clinch in Bengali?
- Clinch in Bengali is চূড়ান্তভাবে স্থির করা, জড়িয়ে ধরা. See Clinch meaning in Bengali.
- What part of speech is clinch?
- Clinch can be a verb, a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce clinch?
- Clinch is pronounced /klɪnt͡ʃ/.
- What is the past tense of clinch?
- The past tense of clinch is clinched.
Words near clinch in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: clinch (page history and authors); Clinch (page history and authors); clinch (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); clinch (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); clinch (Kannada Wiktionary) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-clinch.ogg.
Cite this entry: “clinch.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/clinch. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.