View synonyms for wringer

wringer

[ ring-er ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

an apparatus or machine for squeezing liquid out of anything wet, such as a pair of rollers between which an article of wet clothing may be squeezed.
a painful, difficult, or tiring experience; ordeal:
Their years-long disagreement was an emotional wringer that hurt them both deeply.
a person or thing that wrings:
My father is a real worrier—a wringer of hands and a pacer of floors.

wringer

/ ˈrɪŋə /

Origin of wringer¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; wring ( def ) + -er ¹( def )

through the wringer,
1. through acute suffering or hardship:
  He’s really been through the wringer with his child’s illness.
  A series of disasters put her family through the wringer financially.
2. through rigorous testing, examination, or trial:
  Our numbers have been run through the wringer every which way, and it still looks like some cuts will be needed.
  Keep an eye out for a full review once we put this racing bike through the wringer.

He degraded her and he really put her through the wringer, but she survived that and stayed with him anyway.

I was angry that good people were run through the wringer of a corrupt, unforgiving system.

But then again, he would probably not want to go through the wringer a second time.

Put a man on a pedestal and suddenly it's hard for the press to drag him through the political wringer.

Before he had reached the age of five, he nearly lost a finger in trying to discover how his mother's clothes-wringer worked.

Don't wring the curtains with your hands simply squeeze them or put them gently through the wringer.

"I didn't get it on trial, like a wash-wringer," retorted the Colonel.

Judging from his looks, he might have been run through a wringer.

Know how to use soap and starch, how to soften hard water, and how to use a wringer or mangle.

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Browse