wrested; wresting; wrests
1
: to pull, force, or move by violent wringing or twisting movements
2
: to gain with difficulty by or as if by force, violence, or determined labor
Examples of wrest in a Sentence
Verb
He tried to wrest control of the company from his uncle.
the boy wrested the book out of his sister's hands
Recent Examples on the Web
John C. Moritz, Austin American Statesman, 30 July 2025
Set in the tumultuous early twenty-tens, as Brazil prepared for the World Cup and the Olympics, the novel tracks how Rocinha changes as military police push into the neighborhood, attempting to wrest control from powerful local gangs.
—The New Yorker, New Yorker, 28 July 2025
Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 29 May 2025
This was part of a wider effort to wrest control of Wilson’s life back from Eugene Landy, the controversial therapist who’d been working with Wilson throughout the Eighties.
—Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 28 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for wrest
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Verb
Cornyn's challenge will be to wrest significant numbers of those voters back to his side.
—John C. Moritz, Austin American Statesman, 30 July 2025
Set in the tumultuous early twenty-tens, as Brazil prepared for the World Cup and the Olympics, the novel tracks how Rocinha changes as military police push into the neighborhood, attempting to wrest control from powerful local gangs.
—The New Yorker, New Yorker, 28 July 2025
Noun
Vargas furiously rushes to wrest remote control of the device from The Collective, which is only waiting until enough people are paying attention (via TV news report, social media and the like) to detonate.
—Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 29 May 2025
This was part of a wider effort to wrest control of Wilson’s life back from Eugene Landy, the controversial therapist who’d been working with Wilson throughout the Eighties.
—Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 28 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for wrest
Cite this Entry
“Wrest.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wrest. Accessed 5 Aug. 2025.
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