Word.ws English Dictionary

throwing in the towel

throwing in the towel is the present participle and gerund of throw in the towel.

Meaning of throw in the towel

Verb

throw in the towel (third-person singular simple present throws in the towel, present participle throwing in the towel, simple past threw in the towel, past participle thrown in the towel)

  1. (idiomatic) To quit; to give up.
    • If their restaurant can't get business even on Mother's Day, it might be time for them to throw in the towel.

Questions about throwing in the towel

What is throwing in the towel the present participle and gerund of?
Throwing in the towel is the present participle and gerund of throw in the towel.

Words near throwing in the towel in the dictionary

  1. throwing in at the deep end
  2. throwing in one's hand
  3. throwing in the bark
  4. throwing in the cards
  5. throwing in the sponge
  6. throwing in the towel
  7. throwing in with
  8. throwing it back
  9. throwing knife
  10. throwing knives
  11. throwing light on

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: throwing in the towel (page history and authors); throw in the towel (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: “throwing in the towel.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/throwing_in_the_towel. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.