wrench

1. 1.

   a sharp strain on muscles or ligaments

   “the wrench to his knee occurred as he fell”

   “he was sidelined with a hamstring pull”

   Synonymstwistpull

   Broaderinjury

   Narrowersprain
2. 2.

   a jerky pulling movement

   Synonymstwist

   Broadermovement
3. 3.

   a hand tool that is used to hold or twist a nut or bolt

   Synonymsspanner

   Broaderhand tool

   Narroweradjustable wrenchAllen wrenchalligator wrenchbox wrenchbrace wrenchbulldog wrenchcarriage wrench

Other forms of wrench

plural

wrenches·

past tense

wrenched·

present participle

wrenching·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about wrench

What does wrench mean?

wrench means "twist or pull violently or suddenly, especially so as to remove (something) from that to which it is attached or from where it originates". That is the primary sense; the word has 7 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in wrench?

wrench has 1 syllable: wrench. In IPA it is /ˈɹɛntʃ/.

What is another word for wrench?

Close synonyms include twist, wring, twist, sprain, turn. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is wrench a common word?

wrench is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.