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Synonyms for screwed up

Grammar : Verb
Spell : skroo
Phonetic Transcription : skru

Top 10 synonyms for screwed up
Other synonyms for the word screwed up

Définition of screwed up

Origin :
  • "cylinder of wood or metal with a spiral ridge round it; hole in which a screw turns," c.1400, from Middle French escroue "nut, cylindrical socket, screwhole," of uncertain etymology; not found in other Romanic languages. Perhaps via Gallo-Romance *scroba or West Germanic *scruva from Vulgar Latin scrobis "screw-head groove," in classical Latin "ditch, trench," also "vagina" (Diez, though OED finds this "phonologically impossible").
  • Kluge, Watkins and others trace it to Latin scrofa "breeding sow," perhaps based on the shape of a pig's penis (cf. Portuguese porca, Spanish perca "a female screw," from Latin porca "sow"). Latin scrofa is literally "digger, rooter," from PIE root *(s)ker- (1) "to cut" (see shear (v.)). A group of apparently cognate Germanic words (Middle Low German, Middle Dutch schruve, Dutch schroef, German Schraube, Swedish skrufva "screw") are said to be French loan-words.
  • Sense of "means of pressure or coercion" is from 1640s, probably in reference to instruments of torture (e.g. thumbscrews). Meaning "prison guard, warden" is 1812 in underworld slang, originally in reference to the key they carried (screw as slang for "key" attested from 1795). Slang meaning "an act of copulation" is recorded from 1929 (meaning "a prostitute" is attested from 1725). To have a screw loose "have a dangerous (usually mental) weakness" is recorded from 1810.
  • verb make a mess of
Example sentences :
  • I had been thinking and thinking, and at last I screwed up my courage to answer his letter.
  • Extract from : « Quaint Courtships » by Various
  • So she screwed up her courage and returned to the side porch to get a lantern.
  • Extract from : « Pee-wee Harris » by Percy Keese Fitzhugh
  • His face was screwed up into the expression Tresler had begun to recognize as a smile.
  • Extract from : « The Night Riders » by Ridgwell Cullum
  • He put his glass in his eye, screwed up the left side of his face, and looked at her.
  • Extract from : « The Christian » by Hall Caine
  • When the pins are all inserted the brackets are screwed up by the screws at E.
  • Extract from : « On Laboratory Arts » by Richard Threlfall
  • Unfortunately, I got all screwed up over what one of the other gamblers had.
  • Extract from : « Card Trick » by Walter Bupp AKA Randall Garrett
  • Pash screwed up his face in a manner worthy of his monkey looks.
  • Extract from : « The Opal Serpent » by Fergus Hume
  • Kollomietzev smiled and screwed up his eyes, conveying to her that he understood.
  • Extract from : « Virgin Soil » by Ivan S. Turgenev
  • I went to the window, and examined the boards which had been screwed up before it.
  • Extract from : « Down South » by Oliver Optic
  • Grant nodded at the lens and screwed up his face in an exaggerated frown.
  • Extract from : « A Fine Fix » by R. C. Noll

Antonyms for screwed up

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019