Word.ws English Dictionary

twist the knife in the wound

twist the knife in the wound is the alternative form of twist the knife.

Meaning of twist the knife

Verb

twist the knife (third-person singular simple present twists the knife, present participle twisting the knife, simple past and past participle twisted the knife)

  1. (figuratively, informal) To deliberately do or say something to worsen a difficult situation or increase a person's distress, irritation, or anger.
    • "And I'm not seeing anyone," she added, just to twist the knife — in whom, she wasn't sure.2009, Lucy Dillon, Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts, Berkley, published 2011, →ISBN, page 198

Forms of twist the knife in the wound

third-person singular presenttwists the knife in the wound
present participletwisting the knife in the wound
past participletwisted the knife in the wound
pasttwisted the knife in the wound

Questions about twist the knife in the wound

What is twist the knife in the wound the alternative form of?
Twist the knife in the wound is the alternative form of twist the knife.

Words near twist the knife in the wound in the dictionary

  1. twist someone's balls
  2. twist someone's words
  3. twist splice
  4. twist splices
  5. twist the knife
  6. twist the knife in the wound
  7. twist tie
  8. twist ties
  9. twist up
  10. twist-boat
  11. twist-off

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: twist the knife in the wound (page history and authors); twist the knife (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: “twist the knife in the wound.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/twist_the_knife_in_the_wound. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.