twinge
/twɪnd͡ʒ/
twinge verb: to have a sudden, pinching or sharp pain in a specific part of the body, like a twitch.
Verb
twinge (third-person singular simple present twinges, present participle twingeing or twinging, simple past and past participle twinged)
- To have a sudden, pinching or sharp pain in a specific part of the body, like a twitch.
- My side twinges if I sit too long.
- To pull and twist.
- That ring-dove, who was cooing half-a-mile away, has hushed his moan; that flock of long-tailed titmice, which were twinging and pecking about the fir-cones a few minutes since, are gone; and now there is not even a gnat to quiver in the slant sun-rays.1858 April, Charles Kingsley, “My Winter-garden”, in Miscellanies […], volume I, London: John W[illiam] Parker and Son, […], published 1859, →OCLC, page 146
- To pull and twist (someone or something); to pinch, to tweak, to twitch, to wring.
- I tell thee, I do vſe to teare their hair, to kick them, and to tvvindge their noſes, if they be not carefull in auoiding me.1606 (date written), [Francis Beaumont; John Fletcher], The Woman Hater. […], London: […] [Robert Raworth], and are to be sold by John Hodgets […], published 1607, →OCLC, Act II, scene i, signature...
- Thus Captaine Beſſus, thus; thus tvvinge your noſe, thus kicke, thus tread you.1612 January 5 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), Francis Beaumont, Iohn Fletcher, A King and No King. […], London: […] [John Beale] for Thomas Walkley, […], published 1619, →OCLC, Act V, page...
- To affect or torment (someone, their mind, or part of their body) with one or more sudden, pinching or sharp pains; to irritate.
- For the Chiefeſt cauſe of pain in VVounds of the nerves is the excrementitious matter ſhut up; vvhich being overlong detayned getteth to it ſelf a depraved quality, pulleth and tvvingeth the Nerves, and at length putrifieth.1661, Daniel Sennert, “Of the Wounds of the Nerves, and Tendons, in General, and of the Pricking of the Nerves”, in [Nicholas Culpeper; Abdiah Cole], transl., The Art of Chirurgery, Explained in Six...
- The Gnat Charg'd into the Noſtrils of the Lyon, and there Tvving'd him, till he made him Tear himſelf vvith his Ovvn Pavvs. And in the Concluſion he Maſter'd the Lyon.1692, Roger L’Estrange, “[The Fables of Barlandus, &c.] Fab[le] CCI. A Gnat Challenges a Lyon.”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC, page...
- To prick or stimulate (one's conscience).
- [N]othing did tvvinge my Conſcience like this: Every time that I thought of the Lord Jeſus, of his Grace, Love, Goodneſs, Kindneſs, Gentleneſs, Meekneſs, Death, Blood, Promiſes and bleſſed Exhortations, Comforts and Conſolations, it vvent to my Soul like a Svvord; […]1692, John Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners: […], 7th edition, London: […] Robert Ponder, […], →OCLC, paragraph 184, page 89
- [I]f any of his father's old notions of economy by chance twinged his conscience, Belle very judiciously asked how he ever came to think of her for a wife?1804, Maria Edgeworth, “Out of Debt, Out of Danger. Chapter I. The Contests of Vanity are the Death of Common Sense.”, in Popular Tales, volume I, London: Printed for J[oseph] Johnson, […], [b]y C....
Noun
twinge (plural twinges)
- A sudden, pinching or sharp pain in a specific part of the body, especially one lasting for a short time.
- I got a twinge in my arm.
- Sir Boun[teous Progress]. You feele as it vvere a tvvinge my Lord? / Folly-vv [i.e., Richard Follywit]. I, ee'n a tvvinge, you ſay right. / Sir Boun. A pox diſcouer e'm, that tvvinge I feele too.c. 1605 (first performance), T[homas] M[iddleton], A Mad World, My Masters. […], London: […] H[enry] B[allard] for Walter Burre, […], published 1608, →OCLC, Act II, signature D, recto
- A turn, a twist.
- "Easy!" exclaimed Arthur, a half-contemptuous twinge in his lip, and added: "I take it that the simple question with me is, what is right, and what is best."1860, J[osiah] G[ilbert] Holland, “Hucklebury Run and its Enterprising Proprietor”, in Miss Gilbert’s Career: An American Story, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner, […]; London: Sampson Law, Son & Co....
- A sudden, sharp feeling of an emotional or mental nature, as of guilt or sadness; a pang, a paroxysm, a throe; also, a prick of the conscience.
- a twinge of embarrassment
- [T]he VVickedneſs of this old Villain ſtartles me, and gives me a tvvinge for my ovvn Sin; though it come far ſhort of his: […]1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar: Or, the Double Discovery. […], London: […] Richard Tonson and Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act IV, page 48
- A sudden, sharp occurrence of something; a nip.
- Synonym of earwig (“insect of the order Dermaptera”).
- Synonyms:
- earwig
- An act of pulling and twisting; a pinch, a tweak, a twitch.
- [T]he ſpirite of Jeſus hath (as it were) nipped my herte alſo with a litell twynge, […]1549 February 10 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1548), Erasmus, “The Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Ghospell of S. Luke. The Prologue.”, in Nicolas Udall [i.e., Nicholas Udall], transl., The First...
- For the tvvinge by th' noſe, / 'Tis certainly unſightly, ſo my tables ſaies, / But helpes againſt the head-ache, vvondrous ſtrangely.c. 1615–1616, Thomas Middleton, John Fletcher, “The Nice Valour, or, The Passionate Mad-man”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […]...
twinge meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
twinge in Tamil
- குறும் கூர் வலி
twinge in Urdu
- اینٹھن, چبھن, مروڑ, ٹیس
twinge in Malayalam
- നുള്ളുക, പിച്ചുക, നൊമ്പരപ്പെടുത്തുക, കുത്തുക
twinge in Kannada
- ಕುತ್ತುನೋವು, ಚುಚ್ಚುನೋವು
Examples of twinge in a sentence
- Thou twingest therewith as doth a (pair of) tongs.1867, Richard Morris, “Notes”, in Specimens of Early English Selected from the Chief English Authors A.D. 1250–A.D. 1400 […] (Clarendon...
- He had felt a warning twinge of lumbago.1935, Francis Beeding [pseudonym; John Leslie Palmer and Hilary Aidan Saint George Saunders], chapter VII, in The Norwich Victims (An...
- I believe it cost the vicar some twinges of conscience to persuade him that all I should want would be £40 a year; and it was very hard work, but at last we succeeded, and it was so settled.1859–1861, [Thomas Hughes], “Hardy’s History”, in Tom Brown at Oxford: […], part 1st, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, published 1861...
- "You don't think he'll rusticate us, or any thing of that sort?" said Tom, who had felt horrible twinges at the captain's picture of the effects of rustication on ordinary mortals.1859–1861, [Thomas Hughes], “The Captain’s Notions”, in Tom Brown at Oxford: […], part 1st, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, published...
Synonyms of twinge
Forms of twinge
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | twinges |
| present participle | twingeing |
| present participle | twinging |
| past participle | twinged |
| past | twinged |
| second-person singular present (archaic) | twingest |
| second-person singular past (archaic) | twingedst |
| third-person singular present (archaic) | twingeth |
| Noun | |
| plural | twinges |
Origin of twinge
The verb is derived from Middle English twengen (“to nip, pinch, tweak; to tear at”), from Old English twenġan (“to pinch, squeeze”), from Proto-West Germanic *twangijan (“to pinch, squeeze”), from Proto-Germanic *twangijaną (“to pinch, squeeze”), the causative form of *twinganą (“to press, squeeze”); further etymology uncertain, possibly related to *þwangiz (“belt, strap, thong; pressure, restraint”) or *þwinganą, *þwinhaną (“to constrain; to force”) (whence German zwingen), both ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *twenk- (“to press, pressure, squeeze”). However, the Oxford English Dictionary says there is no evidence for such a relationship. The noun is derived from the verb.
Words formed from twinge
Words that rhyme with twinge
Questions about twinge
- What does twinge mean?
- Twinge means to have a sudden, pinching or sharp pain in a specific part of the body, like a twitch.
- What is twinge in Tamil?
- Twinge in Tamil is குறும் கூர் வலி. See Twinge meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use twinge in a sentence?
- Thou twingest therewith as doth a (pair of) tongs.
- What part of speech is twinge?
- Twinge can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce twinge?
- Twinge is pronounced /twɪnd͡ʒ/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of twinge?
- The past tense of twinge is twinged.
Words near twinge in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: twinge (page history and authors); twinge (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); twinge (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); twinge (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); twinge (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-twinge.wav.
Cite this entry: “twinge.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/twinge. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.