Word.ws English Dictionary

twists and turns

twists and turns noun: abrupt changes in direction or orientation (often used figuratively). Also the third-person singular simple present indicative of twist and turn.

Noun

twists and turns pl (plural only)

  1. (plural, plural-only) Abrupt changes in direction or orientation (often used figuratively).
    • The same ignorance and avarice which made him think the education of his children an useless expense, caused him to reject the advice of his friends to make a will, which would also be attended with a little expense; and there were so many twists and turns in the law he said, every one ought to...1814, Mary Leadbeater, Elizabeth Shackleton, “Calculation”, in Tales for Cottagers, Dublin: John Cumming, page 24
    • “What a romantic old lane this it,” said Diana, as they walked along its twists and turns.1909, Lucy Maud Montgomery, chapter 21, in Anne of Avonlea

Also used as

twists and turns is also the third-person singular simple present indicative of twist and turn.

Questions about twists and turns

What does twists and turns mean?
Twists and turns means abrupt changes in direction or orientation (often used figuratively).
What part of speech is twists and turns?
Twists and turns is a noun.

Words near twists and turns in the dictionary

  1. twistout
  2. twistouts
  3. twistronic
  4. twistronics
  5. twists
  6. twists and turns
  7. twists around one's little finger
  8. twists in the wind
  9. twists of fate
  10. twists someone's arm
  11. twists someone's words

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: twists and turns (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: “twists and turns.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/twists_and_turns. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.