turn of the screw
- idiom
:
un giro de tuerca
- Each new report about the crisis added a turn of the screw to an already tense situation.
Examples
-
When the company announced layoffs, it was just another turn of the screw in an already challenging year.
-
Indio, in this film, is one step away from a turn of the screw.
Academic text (1993) -
The latest turn of the screw in the negotiations made everyone even more anxious.
Synonyms
11
6.0
An unexpected problem that makes a situation more difficult
Antonyms
How Tense
Surface Forms
Morphology
turn + of + the + screw
The literal image of 'turn' + 'screw' conveys tightening or increasing pressure, which gives a clear metaphorical route to the sense of making a situation more tense. However, the figurative extension to 'an event that makes things worse' is not fully predictable from the parts and relies on metaphorical/pragmatic knowledge, so a B1 learner might only sometimes infer it without prior exposure.
Etymology
Turn of the screw may come from the image of turning a simple screw tighter and tighter, because each turn pushes parts together and adds pressure. So, the phrase came to mean an event that makes a difficult situation 'more tense' or 'worse'.