I. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
an ironic twist
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In an ironic twist , the most trustworthy character in the film turned out to be the thief.
break/twist/sprain your ankle
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Janet slipped on the stairs and twisted her ankle.
mangled/tangled/twisted wreckage
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Recovery teams continue to clear the tangled wreckage.
sb's face is twisted/contorted with rage
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Mike's usually calm face was contorted with rage.
sb’s mouth twists written (= moves into an unhappy or angry expression )
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His mouth twisted in a sneer.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
ankle
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As he fell, he twisted his ankle .
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Underfoot, ice forms sharp peaks and treacherous crevices for slipping, tripping and twisting ankles .
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If I had twisted my ankle , would people be making such a big deal of it?
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She twisted her ankle while getting off the lift and had made the long trip down in pain.
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One morning as she was rushing back to the changing rooms one of the models slipped and twisted her ankle .
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A broken heart is not the same as a twisted ankle .
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Unfortunately he added to his list of injuries by twisting an ankle on landing.
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This helps to avoid twisting an ankle when stalking these animals on the rocky terrain they favour.
arm
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After last-minute arm-twisting by Dole, Lott wound up winning by just one vote.
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I've had my arms twisted .
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The townspeople pulled at his arms and legs, twisting , kicking, punching.
body
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And she put him inside and their bodies gasped flexed twisted , joined.
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She never reached normal stature, and her body was left twisted .
face
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Her face was twisted into a distorted grimace and her muscles all over her body had gone rigid.
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Panic-stricken parents, their faces twisted in fear, ran to the school and frantically searched for their sons or daughters.
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The placard was swaying in the air, his lean face was twisted in excitement.
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Her face is all twisted up like a snarl.
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Ma Katz's face , twisted by hatred, was that of her son.
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He was a tall man with a craggy, rubbery face which twisted and turned, often into a sardonic grin.
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Christina backed away from Michael, whose handsome face was twisted and distorted by hatred.
finger
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Usquebaugh Deft, practised, eager, Your fingers twist the metal cap.
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Holly strained with his fingers to twist the coin under the lip of the bolt.
hair
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Ever since I was a teenager, I have had the bad habit of pulling and twisting my hair .
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She could hardly wait to get home, take off her clothes and twist her hair off her neck.
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Leave it in and twist small sections of hair together to achieve better curl formation.
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Kate tried to turn her head away, but he held her head steady with one hand twisted lightly in her hair .
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The lean wind grips him, twisting and pulling his hair .
hand
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When she came downstairs, Nicholas was waiting in the hall, his hands twisting together.
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Behind her back, her hands intertwined and twisted feverishly upon each other.
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Kate tried to turn her head away, but he held her head steady with one hand twisted lightly in her hair.
head
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The head twists out as if the skin is wearing an old fashioned collar that's too tight for comfort.
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My head twisted around to watch her as I walked.
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Its head twisted this way and that as it tried to reach my fingers with its chopping teeth.
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His head snapped violently and twisted to follow it, as though it had tethered him, looped around his neck.
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She let her head twist around the room.
knee
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Twice in the morning he left the field, limping and in pain after twisting his knee .
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Givens said he will not play today because of a twisted knee suffered in practice several days ago.
knife
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And every day of those five weeks has been a knife slowly twisting in a wound.
lip
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Silver-edged lips twisted slightly, and opened.
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Rosie said with that upper lip twisting in scorn.
mouth
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As her tears continued to fall unheeded to mingle with the rain, her mouth twisted bitterly.
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She had even felt her mouth begin to twist itself into a grin ....
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At the moment his mouth was twisted with anger, and that made it easier, Hilary thought.
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They went down to the water's edge and Gran poked with her stick, mouth twisting in on itself.
neck
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A girl born with the umbilical cord twisted round her neck may feel that she always gets herself tied up in things.
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He says the talking drivers twist their necks as they talk and so lose sight of their road horizon.
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He had a blanket over him, twisted up round his neck .
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And then another crow flew at him, and the Scarecrow twisted its neck also.
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Powerful, calloused, sunburnt, they could have twisted the white swan neck of Lady Eleanor as easily as a twig.
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I thought she was just standing there twisting the neck of this duck.
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Holly had filled the plastic bag with oil and twisted the neck tight and fastened it with a snip of wire.
seat
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White twisted round in his seat to start opening the hatch.
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I twisted around in my seat so that I could watch the Trowbridge house out of sight.
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I was twisted around in my seat , watching them load, directing Reacher through the intercom.
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Some of my dormitory mates made dancing motions and twisted in their seats .
shape
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They were two arrogant, powerful men, both supremely gifted and both twisted out of shape by abusive childhoods.
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They twist you out of shape .
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He used to make the bullets too, little strips of iron that he heated, twisted , battered into shape .
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This wasn't any alien habitat, where even geometry might be twisted out of shape .
smile
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Southworth closed the accounts book, a smile of satisfaction twisting his lips.
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You could tell something was badly wrong by the way the woman's smile twisted and her body sagged.
turn
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Despite many bridges, viaducts, embankments, cuttings and tunnels the lines twist and turn in detours around the hills.
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They seem to have neither fins nor limbs, and they twist and turn through the water like snakes.
way
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I twisted one way and then another.
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Our city is not governed by a mob which twists this way and that, but by one man.
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Things twisted this way and that in her mind.
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Martin put a couple of slick fakes on cornerback Larry Brown, turning and twisting him every which way .
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Its head twisted this way and that as it tried to reach my fingers with its chopping teeth.
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Banners burnt, and tatters twisted , in every way .
wire
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John twisted soft iron wire around some thick dowelling, whittled to a taper, to make candleholders.
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The wiry Estrada flashes a partially capped smile as she gratefully recalls her first maquila job twisting electrical wires with latex-tipped fingers.
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He'd spent a long time twisting bits of wire together and finding a safe way to steal electricity from the fusebox.
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Why not make the rope out of twisted wire ?
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The muscles in her neck felt as hard and twisted as wire rope.
wrist
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My hands needed to stay still, with my wrists twisting up and down after each stroke to flatten out the oars.
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He hesitated, then grabbed her wrist and twisted it so that she screamed again and the knife dropped.
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I grabbed his wrist , twisting the hand away from my face.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
(don't) get your knickers in a twist
twist/turn the knife (in the wound)
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Saints twisted the knife with a glorious try from Tony Sullivan, set up by Gary Connolly.
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The tragedy is that you have to twist the knife in your own gray matter to make this defense work.
twist/wrap/wind sb around your little finger
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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"I can't get the top off." "Try twisting it the other way."
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A dry stream bed twisted through thick tree roots.
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Every time I try to talk to him about it, he just twists everything I say.
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He's always trying to twist my words and make me look bad.
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Her long blonde hair was twisted into a knot on the back of her head.
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Laura twisted the handkerchief in her hands nervously.
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Max twisted around to see who had entered the room.
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The lawyers twisted everything I said to make it look as if I was guilty.
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The path twisted back and forth up the side of the mountain.
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The road twisted back and forth up the side of the mountain.
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The streets are narrow and twist and turn and it is not advisable to take a car up them.
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We twisted a wire coathanger and used it to open the car door.
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We twisted and tugged to get the mussels loose from their shells.
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We approached Assisi via the dusty road that twists its way up Monte Subasio.
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Wrap the paper around the candy and twist the ends shut.
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Write very clearly so that no one can twist your meaning.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Able to twist them, direct them, fill them with ecstasy, or torment them.
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First the highway twists low, plunging me into Glenwood Canyon.
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She was fiddling self-consciously with her wedding ring, twisting it around below her knuckle.
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The hangman then twisted the ladder away, turning off the victim.
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The quote was recorded six months before Dall was shoved aside by Ranieri to be left twisting in the wind by Gutfreund.
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Then in 1850, a wire suspension bridge twisted and crumpled under the tread of marching troops.
II. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
bizarre
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It was such a bizarre twist that we couldn't see how anyone would find a way around it.
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Was this a bizarre new twist of the plot?
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In a bizarre twist , the continuing rise in fuel taxes could force the petrol companies themselves to hike prices further.
cruel
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These accounts portray life behind bars as a cruel twist on the Hobbesian description of life: nasty, brutish and long.
final
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And the ending is slightly unsatisfactory, arguably deficient in the final twist or flourish.
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The final twist lifts the story a bit, but hardly enough to care.
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It is the final twist in the story of this chapter.
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Now it's time for the kill, and the final twists are as clever as they are gripping.
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The final twist to the whole presentation graphics story must be the current upsurge in interest in Desktop Video.
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But now comes the final twist to the story: the crucial change of emphasis.
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There was, however, one final twist .
further
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A further twist to the uncertainty of fossil fuel supplies was provided by the growing militancy of Britain's miners.
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There is a further twist to the labour supply consideration.
ironic
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The comedy of reassurance, still, but with a self-conscious, ironic twist that Bruce Forsyth would never have dreamed of.
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And in an ironic twist , the Author is played by the same actor as the old farmer.
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I know the Story of her Life - each ironic twist .
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While all of the separates bore the requisite logos, they also had a sense of humor or ironic twists .
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In an ironic twist , this time humans will tackle an 8K run or 2-mile walk.
late
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The latest twist in a deteriorating relationship between police and loyalist activists was contained in a statement issued to Sunday Life yesterday.
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The latest twist is provided by the identification of an alternative candidate gene.
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The denial of the Holocaust is the latest twist in this tale of conspiracy and deception.
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It's the latest twist in the saga involving council official Tommy Sheppard.
little
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Cream overflowed the edges of the shallow dish, another little twist of frightening confusion.
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I pinched his nose and gave it a little twist .
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You may be lucky and that necessary little twist may be given to you by the workings of intuition.
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By a simple trick of the intelligence, a deft little twist of naming, he felt incomparably lighter and freer.
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She was half-smiling, with a little twist to her mouth.
new
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Was this a bizarre new twist of the plot?
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Then, in a new twist , the Raiders actually reached the end zone.
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And a new twist is given to the urge to be a Napoleon.
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Arts for All is putting the children's literature favorite on stage, with some new twists .
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This merely a selection of the biggest: The Net has added a raft of new twists on the bidding game.
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They continued to study and advocate diets, but they did so with some new twists .
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Here was a new twist to the Hsu Fu story.
strange
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Only he has this strange twist of plunging straight into what matters.
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Full of strange twists and amusing coincidences.
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And in some strange , cosmic twist , the name seemed to fit.
unexpected
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This could create all kinds of unexpected twists in the answers that computers generate.
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The abortion debate provided an unexpected twist Thursday.
■ NOUN
plot
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This 1919 film is notable for its stunning expressionist sets and super plot twist at the end.
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And yet another plot twist was aired in court Wednesday.
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And so it's no surprise that at this point there's a plot twist to introduce the villains of the hour.
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But anyone seeking a fresh characterization or clever plot twist ought not to buy a ride on this Murphy vehicle.
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Small children in the audience could be heard objecting rather strenuously to this plot twist .
■ VERB
add
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This is not to say that Shadwell does not add some twists of his own.
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Jackson has tried to accommodate him by adding an offensive twist in which Rodman plays in the low post.
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Readership duplication and the extremes of circulation size add a surprising twist to these class divisions.
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The Microsoft browser incorporates many of the features created by Netscape and adds some twists of its own in a slick package.
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The image of the Supercontinent Cycle adds yet another twist to this age-old theory.
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Here the story takes on an added twist .
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C., adds a new twist .
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My friend Penny Lehrman adds an interesting twist to this research project.
give
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In every chord there is some foreign element, some contradiction which gives an odd twist to the harmony.
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I pinched his nose and gave it a little twist .
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And then in darkness with a shout that gives a fierce twist to his jaw - we're in it.
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The head gave a sudden twist and Jack fired two more bullets into it.
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Voice over Clare takes conventional subjects and gives them a twist , physically and artistically.
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There is nothing trendy, no attempt to take something old and it give it a new twist .
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In the United States, the emergence of bureaucratic government was given a particular twist by its turn-of-the-century setting.
take
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The 28-year-old mechanical engineer's fortunes took a dramatic twist midway through last season when his career hit rock bottom.
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Her coming must have taken a ferocious twist .
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Here the story takes on an added twist .
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Just when you think you're getting to grips with greenwashing, it takes another twist .
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And this week the case took a dramatic twist with the high-seas arrest of Roderick, the dead couple's 26-year-old son.
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But minutes later, this carjacking took a deadly new twist .
turn
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Although today began with a cool, misty, autumnal twist , it turned out gloriously fine and bright.
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The movie plods along with predictable twists and turns you can see coming for miles.
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Nomatterhow many twists and turns that vehicle made, I was able to keep track.
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Pros: Lots of pyrotechnics and effects, plenty of twists and turns that keep you hanging on.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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a martini with a twist
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Lorna wears her hair in a twist .
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The diamond sparkled with each twist of the chain.
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The path has a lot of twists and turns.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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And the sporty model, with its bigger tires, felt better in highway twists and turns than its richer sibling.
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Do as many twists as you can.
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Installing the twist anchors and screwing down the decking should prevent a problem with twisting.
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It has enough twists and fakes, double-crosses and sneak attacks to keep your mind spinning.
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She takes her hair down from a twist to pose.
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Styling gel was applied to the ends which were then finished with a twist .
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The authorities have set a limit of one twist per customer per week, which is no way to handle the problem.