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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

mindscrew en · NOUN

Pronunciation

Etymology

From mind + screw (“to play with; to meddle”).

Meanings

  1. (slang) Something that destabilizes, confuses, or manipulates a person's mind.
    • It's in television that Abrams, arguably more than Spielberg, has nudged the medium forward, with "Felicity," then "Alias" and finally the mindscrew of "Lost." 2009 May 12, Jay A. Fernandez, “Abrams making a name for himself, but it's not Steven Spielberg just yet”, in The Hollywood Reporter:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
mindscrews Number=Plur lexicographic

Synonyms

headfuck · brainfuck · mindfuck

mindscrew en · VERB

Pronunciation

Etymology

From mind + screw (“to play with; to meddle”).

Meanings

  1. To destabilize, confuse, or manipulate a person's mind.
    • About half the detectives thought his return to the old neighborhood was proof positive that he was out of control; still others believed he had ice water running through his veins, maybe even mindscrewing the cops by rubbing their noses in the fact they couldn't stop him even though they suspected who he was 1997, Howard Swindle, Trespasses: Portraits of a Serial Rapist, Penguin, published 1997, →ISBN:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
mindscrewing Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
mindscrewed Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
mindscrewed Tense=Past lexicographic
mindscrews Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic