Word.ws English Dictionary

twisted the knife

twisted the knife is the simple past and past participle 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

Questions about twisted the knife

What is twisted the knife the simple past and past participle of?
Twisted the knife is the simple past and past participle of twist the knife.

Words near twisted the knife in the dictionary

  1. twisted pair
  2. twisted pairs
  3. twisted perspective
  4. twisted someone's arm
  5. twisted someone's words
  6. twisted the knife
  7. twisted the knife in the wound
  8. twisted up
  9. twisted-stalk
  10. twisted-stalks
  11. twistedly

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: twisted the knife (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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