Word.ws English Dictionary

getting one's panties in a pretzel

getting one's panties in a pretzel is the present participle and gerund of get one's panties in a pretzel.

Meaning of get one's panties in a pretzel

Verb

get one's panties in a pretzel (third-person singular simple present gets one's panties in a pretzel, present participle getting one's panties in a pretzel, simple past got one's panties in a pretzel, past participle (UK) got one's panties in a pretzel or (US) gotten one's panties in a pretzel)

  1. (humorous, idiomatic, informal, rare) Synonym of get one's knickers in a twist.
    • “Don't get your panties in a pretzel, darling. I simply want to scare him so that he pulls over.” Kitty yanked off her fez and stuck her head into the howling wind. Her hair whipped around her eyes, and she pushed it out of the way.2008, Susan Goodwill, Little Shop of Murders, Llewellyn Worldwide, →ISBN, page 13

Questions about getting one's panties in a pretzel

What is getting one's panties in a pretzel the present participle and gerund of?
Getting one's panties in a pretzel is the present participle and gerund of get one's panties in a pretzel.

Words near getting one's panties in a pretzel in the dictionary

  1. getting one's monkey up
  2. getting one's oats
  3. getting one's own back
  4. getting one's own way
  5. getting one's panties in a bunch
  6. getting one's panties in a pretzel
  7. getting one's panties in a wad
  8. getting one's poop together
  9. getting one's priorities right
  10. getting one's priorities straight
  11. getting one's rocks off

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: getting one's panties in a pretzel (page history and authors); get one's panties in a pretzel (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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