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wring meaning and examples

2025-08-22

Meaning

Wring means to twist or squeeze something forcefully, often to remove liquid. It can also be used figuratively to mean extracting something with effort, such as money, information, or sympathy.

Grammar and Usage

  • Part of speech: Verb (transitive)

  • Verb forms: wring – wrung – wrung

  • Patterns:

    • wring + noun (wring a towel)
    • wring + sth out (wring the water out of clothes)
    • wring sth from sb (wring a confession from a suspect)

Common Phrases

  • wring someone’s neck (idiom: to express anger at someone’s behavior)
  • wring out a cloth/towel
  • wring money from someone
  • wring one’s hands (gesture showing worry or distress)

Collocations

  • wring a towel / cloth / shirt
  • wring money / confession / information
  • wring hands in despair
  • nearly wring someone’s neck

Examples

  1. She wrung the towel to get the water out.
  2. He managed to wring a confession from the suspect.
  3. The charity wrung money from generous donors.
  4. The soaked clothes had to be wrung out before drying.
  5. She wrung her hands in despair during the crisis.
  6. I could wring his neck for lying to me!
  7. He wrung every drop of juice from the orange.
  8. They tried to wring sympathy from the audience.
  • twist
  • squeeze
  • extract
  • wrench
  • strain