Join free

clench

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

clench

  • /klɛnt͡ʃ/

Rhymes with -ɛntʃ

Where it comes from

From Middle English clenchen, from Old English clenċan (“to clinch; hold fast”), a variant of Old English clenġan (“to adhere; remain”), from Proto-Germanic *klangijaną, causative of *klinganą (“to stick; adhere”). Related to cling.

verb clenches · clenching · clenched

  1. ambitransitive To grip or hold fast. I clenched the rope in my teeth.
  2. ambitransitive To close tightly. He clenched his fist in anger.
  3. alternative, ambitransitive Alternative form of clinch (“bend and hammer a nail”).clinch
  4. ambitransitive, dated Dated form of clinch (“make certain, finalize”).clinch to clench an argument

Similar: clasp, clutch, grip

noun clenches

  1. ambitransitive A tight grip.
  2. alternative, ambitransitive Alternative form of clinch (“the act of bending and hammering the point of a nail so it cannot be removed”).clinch
  3. ambitransitive A seal that is applied to formed thin-wall bushings.
  4. ambitransitive A local chapter of the Church of the SubGenius parody religion. And perhaps most innovative of all, Drummond and Stang pushed for a policy of clench autonomy […]
  5. ambitransitive, obsolete A pun. Here one poor word an hundred clenches makes

Talk about this word