Mindscrew
noun, verb, slang ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 Something that destabilizes, confuses, or manipulates a person's mind. slang
"It's in television that Abrams, arguably more than Spielberg, has nudged the medium forward, with "Felicity," then "Alias" and finally the mindscrew of "Lost.""
- 1 To destabilize, confuse, or manipulate a person's mind.
"About half the detectives thought his return to the old neighborhood was proof positive that he was out of control; still others believed he had ice water running through his veins, maybe even mindscrewing the cops by rubbing their noses in the fact they couldn't stop him even though they suspected who he was"
Example
More examples"It's in television that Abrams, arguably more than Spielberg, has nudged the medium forward, with "Felicity," then "Alias" and finally the mindscrew of "Lost.""
Etymology
From mind + screw (“to play with; to meddle”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.