writhen

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

That face wore a look of anguish, despair, and desperation that seemed fixed there forever; for in all its agony of passion that tortured and writhen face was as still, cold, hard, and lifeless as marble, except that from its eyes streamed glances as from orbs of fire. — Cruel as the grave, Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth
Cresside, all quit from ev’ry dread and teen,* *pain As she that juste cause had him to trust, Made him such feast,<59> it joy was for to see’n, When she his truth and *intent cleane wist;* *knew the purity And as about a tree, with many a twist, of his purpose* *Bitrent and writhen* is the sweet woodbind, *plaited and wreathed* Gan each of them in armes other wind. — The Canterbury Tales, and Other Poems, Geoffrey Chaucer

contorted, writhed

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