Writhingly

adv

adv ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adverb
  1. 1
    With a writhing motion.

    "1822, uncredited author, “The Nightmare” (Review of Smarra, ou les Démons de la Nuit by Charles Nodier (1821), including free translations of passages from the novella), The New Monthly Magazine, Volume 4, p. 524, […] the monster sprang from her burning hand, turned writhingly and rapidly in the air, outspread his wildly-fashioned wings, uprose, sank down, expanded, shrunk […]"

Example

More examples

"1822, uncredited author, “The Nightmare” (Review of Smarra, ou les Démons de la Nuit by Charles Nodier (1821), including free translations of passages from the novella), The New Monthly Magazine, Volume 4, p. 524, […] the monster sprang from her burning hand, turned writhingly and rapidly in the air, outspread his wildly-fashioned wings, uprose, sank down, expanded, shrunk […]"

Etymology

From writhing + -ly.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.