Word.ws English Dictionary

twisting someone's arm

twisting someone's arm is the present participle and gerund of twist someone's arm.

Meaning of twist someone's arm

Verb

twist someone's arm (third-person singular simple present twists someone's arm, present participle twisting someone's arm, simple past and past participle twisted someone's arm)

  1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: To apply torsion along the length of the arm of (a person).
    • I twist his arm, a snap signaling when it breaks. His screams reverberate in the tiny apartment.2013, Justina Ireland, Vengeance Bound, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 295
  2. (figuratively) To coerce, force, or cajole.
    • They had to twist his arm, but they got him to join the project.

Questions about twisting someone's arm

What is twisting someone's arm the present participle and gerund of?
Twisting someone's arm is the present participle and gerund of twist someone's arm.

Words near twisting someone's arm in the dictionary

  1. twisting and turning
  2. twisting around one's little finger
  3. twisting balloon
  4. twisting balloons
  5. twisting in the wind
  6. twisting someone's arm
  7. twisting someone's words
  8. twisting the knife
  9. twisting the knife in the wound
  10. twisting up
  11. twistingly

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: twisting someone's arm (page history and authors); twist someone's arm (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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