v. 1 plait, braid, weave, entwine, intertwine, twine, interweave, pleach, splice, wreathe, interlace She twisted together some daisies to make a garland for her hair 2 distort, warp, contort, pervert, alter, change, slant, bias, colour, falsify, misquote, misstate, garble, miscite, misrepresent, violate; misinterpret, mistranslate, misunderstand, misconstrue He twisted her words so that she seemed to be saying the opposite of what she intended 3 wriggle, worm, squirm, writhe, wiggle The little beggar twisted out of my grasp and ran for his life 4 wind, snake, meander, turn, zigzag, worm, bend, curve I lost sight of the stream where it twisted through the undergrowth 5 wrench, turn, sprain, rick or wrick I twisted my ankle on a faulty step 6 twist (one's or someone's) arm. force, coerce, make, persuade, bully, Brit pressurize, US pressure I didn't want to go, but she twisted my arm
n. 7 coil, spiral, skew, zigzag, dog-leg, turn, curve, angle, bend, bow, meander The road is full of twists and turns 8 interpretation, analysis, understanding, slant, angle, construction, construal; treatment, approach, version, variation This book puts a new twist on the fall of the Roman Empire 9 distortion, misinterpretation, contortion, perversion, warping, alteration, change, departure, bias, colouring, falsification, misquotation, misstatement, garbling, misrepresentation; mistranslation, misunderstanding, misconstrual, misconstruction It was a twist of fate that brought us together again She gave everything he said such a twist that he scarcely recognized his own ideas. 10 quirk, idiosyncrasy, crotchet, peculiarity, oddity, trick, eccentricity, incongruity, inconsistency, irregularity; weakness, flaw, fault, foible, failing Owing to a twist in his character, he has developed a hatred of women 11 round the twist. mad, crazy, insane, eccentric, Colloq daft, Brit round the bend, Slang nuts, nutty, bonkers, cuckoo, batty, off (one's) rocker, Brit barmy or balmy Kevin's gone round the twist if he thinks I am going out with his sister