Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Definition: Twitch |
TwitchNoun1. A sudden spasm; especially one caused by a nervous condition. Verb1. Make an uncontrolled, short, jerky motion; "his face is twitching". 2. Move with abrupt, seemingly uncontrolled motions; "The patient's legs were jerkings". 3. Toss with a sharp movement so as to cause to turn over in the air. 4. Squeeze tightly between the fingers; "He pinched her behind"; "She squeezed the bottle". 5. Move or pull with a sudden motion. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "twitch" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1380. (references) |
Synonyms: TwitchSynonyms: twitching (n), vellication (n), flip (v), jerk (v), nip (v), pinch (v), squeeze (v), tweet (v), twinge (v), vellicate (v). (additional references) |
| Synonym by domain: quickens (food & agriculture, biology & biotechnology). |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Penitence | Self-reproach, self-reproof, self-accusation, self-condemnation, self-humiliation; stings of conscience, pangs of conscience, qualms of conscience, prickings of conscience, twinge of conscience, twitch of conscience, touch of conscience, voice of conscience; compunctious visitings of nature. |
Physical Pain | Verb: feel pain, experience pain, suffer pain, undergo pain. Noun: suffer, ache, smart, bleed; tingle, shoot; twinge, twitch, lancinate; writhe, wince, make a wry face; sit on thorns, sit on pins and needles. |
Noun: pain; suffering, sufferance, suffrance; bodily pain, physical pain, bodily suffering, physical suffering, body pain; mental suffering; dolour, ache; aching. Verb: smart; shoot, shooting; twinge, twitch, gripe, headache, stomach ache, heartburn, angina, angina pectoris; hurt, cut; sore, soreness; discomfort, malaise; cephalalgia, earache, gout, ischiagra, lumbago, neuralgia, odontalgia, otalgia, podagra, rheumatism, sciatica; tic douloureux, toothache, tormina, torticollis. | |
Regression | Wrench, jerk, twitch, touse; yank. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Twitch |
| English words defined with "twitch": flick ♦ Quitch grass ♦ riffle, ruffle ♦ skitter ♦ twang, Twight, Twighte, Twitched. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "twitch": Muscle Relaxation. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | You people make my ass twitch! (French Kiss; writing credit: Adam Brooks) | |
Lyrics | I'm starting to twitch again (The Itch; performing artist: Vitamin C) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Twitch City (1998) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books | |||
Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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High Tech |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Play | Caption |
| Agitate; alternate; bob; bounce; buffet; flap; flicker; fluctuate; flutter; heave; jerk; jounce; oscillate; palpitate; pitch; pound; pulsate; pulse; quake; quaver; quiver; ripple; shake; shiver; swing; thrill; throb; thump; tremble; twitch; undulate; vibr. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | In its simplest form, myoclonus consists of a muscle twitch followed by relaxation. (references) | |
A person having a severe seizure may cry out, fall to the floor unconscious, twitch or move uncontrollably, drool, or even lose bladder control. (references) | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Twitch" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 58.19% of the time. "Twitch" is used about 177 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 58.19% | 103 | 32,137 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 31.07% | 55 | 45,713 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 10.17% | 18 | 82,615 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.56% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 177 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "twitch": twitch grass. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "twitch": twitch-grass. | |
Ending with "twitch": anti-twitch, a-twitch, eyebrow-twitch, eye-twitch, fast-twitch, slow-twitch. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "twitch"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | tik nervoz (tic), kam një tik nervoz, dridhje (didder, dither, fibrillation, flicker, flickering, flutter, jarring, jerk, palpitation, pulse, quake, quiver, shake, shaking, shiver, shudder, throb, tremble, trembling, tremolo, tremor, vibrancy, vibration), dridhem (blink, dither, dodder, flicker, flinch, give a start, pulsate, quake, quiver, shake, shiver, shudder, thrill, tremble, twiddle, vibrate, wabble, waver, wince, wobble, writhe). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | فرفر (squirm), نشل (buy up, palm, pick, pinch, snaffle, sneak), الم حاد مفاجئ, إنتفض (flounce, quiver, shake, shiver, tremble), إنتفاض (flounce, shaking, tremble), إنتزع (conquer, draw, exact, extort, extract, get smth. off one's hands, grab, snatch, swagger, tear, tear out, wrest, wring, yank), إنتزاع (conquering, conquest, elicitation, eviction, exaction, extortion, grab, grabbing, pull, snatching, yank), إرتعاش (flutter, quaver, quiver, shake, shaking, trembling, tremor, twitter, wobble), إرتعش (be shocked, bicker, flutter, jerk, quake, quaver, quiver, shake, shiver, shudder, thrill, tingle, tremble, waver, wobble), شد بقوة, شد (chock, drawing, enthral, enthrall, harness, lace, pull, strain, tension, thrill, tighten). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | троскот (couch grass, dog's grass), трепване (flick, jerk, jump, start, wince), трепвам (blench, flinch, jerk, quail, start, wince), внезапно издърпване, внезапно дръпване (yank), нервност (jim-jams, nerves, nervousness, twit), мърдам (wiggle), лека болка, потръпвам (shiver, shudder), потрепване (quiver, thrill, wince), помръдвам, подръпвам (give a pull, hitch, pull, pull at), играя (act, dance, disport oneself, do, enact, lead, perform, play, present, represent, run about, shoot, sport, support, wanton, waver), издърпвам (hitch, pull, pull up), дръпвам (hitch, jerk, pull, pull at, pull away, pull down, pull in, retract, strike, suck at, tug, tweak, withdraw). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | trhnout (jerk, wrench, yank), zatahat za nos, křeè (convulsion, cramp, spasm), škubnutí (jerk, lurch, pluck, pull, quirk, stab, tug, twinge, yank), škubnout (flinch, wrench, yank). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | senegraes (couch grass, creeping wheat, quack grass, quick grass, quickens, quitch grass, white couch), almindelig kvik (couch grass, creeping wheat, quack grass, quick grass, quickens, quitch grass, white couch). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | kweek (couch-grass). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | فشردن (Crush, Pressure, Squeeze, Tighten, Wad, Wring), پیچاندن (Contort, Crinkle, Curl, Reeve, Screw, Turquoise, Waggle, Wrest, Wring), منقبض شدن , ناگهان کشیدن (Pluck), کشش (Draw, Extension, Haul, Haulage, Inducement, Jerk, Magnetism, Pull, Reach, Tension, Tract, Traction, Tug), گره زدن (Knit, Knot, Loop, Ruffle, Tie, Truss), حرکت یاکشش ناگهانی , سرکوفت دادن , جمع شدن (Aggregate, Assemble, Backlog, Beehive, Congregate, Constringe, Drift, Flock, Gather, Group, Herd, Muster, Retract, Shrink, Snuggle), بهم کشیدن . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | juolavehnä (couch-grass). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | tirer d'un coup sec, tic, se frissonner, se convulser, s'agiter, saccade, mouvement convulsif, douleur cinglante, donner un coup sec, coup sec, chiendent rampant, chiendent commun, chevrotement, attraction, attacher avec sangle. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | zuckung (convulsion, flutter, jerk, spasm), zucken (flare up, flash, flicker, flinch, jerk, quiver, shiver, shrug, shrugged, start, streak, thrash about, tremble, tremor, twinge, work), ziehen (ache, be draughty, be popular, breed, brew, build, drag, dragging pain, draw, drift, erect, extract, fly, go, go down well, grow, haul, haul up, heave, infuse, lift, lift up, make, March, marinade, migrate, penetrate, process, production, pull, pull out, pulling, raise, remove, sail, simmer, strain, stretch, suck, take out, tear, to pull, traction, trail, transmigrate, tug, unsheathe, wander, wheel, work out, yank out), kriechende Quecke (couch grass, creeping wheat, quack grass, quick grass, quickens, quitch grass, white couch), gemeine Quecke (couch grass, creeping wheat, quack grass, quick grass, quickens, quitch grass, white couch). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | σπασμόσ (convulsion, cramp, fit, spasm), νευρική σύσπαση, άγρωστις η έρπουσα (couch grass, creeping wheat, quack grass, quick grass, quickens, quitch grass, white couch), τράβηγμα (draught, drawing, haul, pull, traction, tug, withdrawal, withdrawament, yank), τραβώ αιφνιδίωσ, τινάσσομαι (jiggle, jolt, yank), τίναγμα (bump, concussion, flick, jerk, jerking, jolt, jounce, percussion, shake, shock, toss). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | לפרפר (crumb, flutter, fly, hover, jerk, palpitate, quiver, struggle), ל"תכוץ (cower, cringe, crouch, shrink), פרפור (agony, convulsion, fibrillation, jerk, quiver, spasm), עוית (convulsion, spasm, throe, tic). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | szúrás (dig, foin, prick, pricking, puncture, smart, stab, sting, stuck, thrust, tingle). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | menggelepar (flap, flutter, hover, wallop), menggamit, geronyot (throb with pain), geletis (squirm). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | tirare (be tight, blow, draft, drag, draught, draw, feel tight, haul, heave, land, lug, pluck, pull, shoot, stretch, tend, throw, tighten, to pull, tug, wheel), strattone (draw, hitch, jerk, pull, tug, yank), lattuga di cane (couch grass, creeping wheat, quack grass, quick grass, quickens, quitch grass, white couch), gramignone (couch grass, creeping wheat, quack grass, quick grass, quickens, quitch grass, stink lovegrass, US stinkgrass, white couch), gramigno (couch grass, creeping wheat, quack grass, quick grass, quickens, quitch grass, white couch), convulso (convulsion, convulsive, feverish, fit, jerky, paroxysm), contrazione (constriction, contraction, jerk, shrinkage), contrarsi (constrict, contract, fall, flex, shrink, work), agitarsi (agitate, bestir oneself, bustle, fidget, flounder, flutter, fuss, rain, rainfall, ruffle, shake, stir, tingle, toss, tumble, wag). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 引き"り (scar, spasm). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | ひきつり (cramp, scar, spasm). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | tayrn veg, faiyr voddee (couch grass), craplag feh, brebbal (kick, push with foot, to boot, waver), breban (dirt, heel of shoe, little kick, snot, tic). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | itchtway sacão (pluck, tug), repelão (push, wrench), puxar (drag, drag out, draw, drew, hale, haul, lug, pull, to pull, trail, tug, wiredrawn), puxão (jerk, jumble, lug, pluck, pull, tug, tweak, wrench, yank), estremeção, crispar-se, convulsão (jactitation, spasm), contrair (constrict, contract, narrow, reduce, screw, take), contração muscular (jerk), contorcer (contort, corkscrew, writhe), contorção (contortion, screw), beliscar (gripe, nip, pinch), beliscão (nip, pinch, tweak), agarrar (capture, catch, clasp, cling, clutch, get hold of, grab, grabble, grapple, grasp, gripe, hold, lay hands on, seize). (various references) trage de mânecã, tic nervos (tic), zvâcnire (pant, throb), zvâcni (pant, throb), smuciturã (flounce, hitch, jerk, jolt, tug, wrench, wring), smuci (hitch, lug, pull up, tug, worry, wrench), se schimonosi, pir (couch grass, quitch). (various references) судорога (convulsion, cramp, crick, kink, spasm, spastics), подергивание (chuck), дергаться, дергать (jerk, jerked, pull, pull at, rase, yank, yanked). (various references) trzaj (hitch, jerk, lunge, lurch, snatch, start, tug, wince, wrench, yank), trgnuti (draw, jerk, pull, recoil, startle, tug, yank), kidati (tear), kidanje, igrati (act, dance, perform, personate, play, play at, take), grčiti se (contract, twist, writhe), grčevito trzanje, brnjica (muzzle, nose ring, ring), čupati, čupanje (evulsion). (various references) tirón (haul, heave, hitch, jerk, lug, pluck, pull, tug, wrench, yank). (various references) rycka (hitch, jerk, lug, March, move, pluck, pull, switch, tug, wrench, wrest, yank), ryck (fit, flip, hitch, jerk, judder, lug, pull, snatch, start, tug, twich, whim, yank). (various references) tik (tic), seğirmek (work), seğirme, koparma (breaking off, plucking), kapmak (catch, clutch, dispossess, grab, grasp, imbibe, nab, poach, scoop up, seize, shut, shut in, snap up, snatch, snatch up, swoop up, whip, whip away, whip from), burunduruk, birden çekmek (whip out, yank), birden çekme (yank), ayrık out (couch, couch grass). (various references) судорога (cramp), сіпати (lug, pluck, wrench), сіпання (lug, pull, tug, wrench, yank), стягати (exact, run back), смикатися (wriggle), петля (button hole, kink, loop, necklace, noose, ply, stitch, tag). (various references) sự giật mạnh sự co rúm, chứng co giật cái kẹp mũi ngựa. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | Agropyron repens, Elytrigia repens, saliens, salientis, salierunt, saliet, salietis, salis, salit, saltu, saltum, saltus, salvi, Triticum repens. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "twitch": twitched, twitcher, twitchers, twitches, twitchier, twitchiest, twitchily, twitching, twitchy. (additional references) | |
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"Twitch" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Dowitcz, ftcwatch, titch, Tuwaitha, twich, twinch, twith, twoth, Twythe. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "twitch" (pronounced twi"kh) |
| 3 | -w i" kh | bewitch, switch, which, wich, witch. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "c-h-i-t-t-w" | |
-1 letter: witch. | |
-2 letters: chit, itch, twit, whit, wich, with. | |
-3 letters: chi, hic, hit, ich, tic, tit, wit. | |
-4 letters: hi, it, ti. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-h-i-t-t-w" | |
+1 letter: twitchy. | |
+2 letters: twitched, twitcher, twitches. | |
+3 letters: twitchers, twitchier, twitchily, twitching, witchiest. | |
+4 letters: stitchwort, twitchiest, whipstitch, witchcraft, wristwatch. | |
+5 letters: bewitchment, outwatching, stitchworts, witchcrafts. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Sounds 7. Quotations: Non-fiction 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Expressions 10. Expressions: Internet 11. Translations: Modern 12. Translations: Ancient | 13. Derivations 14. Rhymes 15. Anagrams 16. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.