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Glite Dictionary
🌪️ A tornado 🍩 A fried cake
twister

twister

23 5.3
A very strong turning wind that forms a funnel and can destroy buildings
  • noun
  • /ˈtwɪstər/
  • US
translation icon : tornado
  • "I personally think the way it looks down here; a twister came through and took it all down."
  • twister hit
  • twister tore
  • deadly twister

Examples

  • The twister is bearing down on us, blasting great bolts of lightning toward the ground.

    Blog text (20)

  • The wind blows and the twister tears everything up.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • Looks like a twister hit it.

    The Good Girl (2002)

  • Or you got carried off by a twister?

    Raising Arizona (1987)

  • We're in for a twister.

    China Seas (1935)

  • The twister had touched down only in select locations.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • It felt like twister weather.

    The Color Purple (1985)

  • I'm glad to report that my family and I were out of the path of these twisters.

    Blog text (6)

  • Holly's spinning like a weathervane in a Kansas twister.

    The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)

  • A powerful twister destroyed several homes in the neighborhood last night.

Synonyms

tornado
vstwister
221 3.7

A violent rotating column of air that touches the ground and damages things

is an informal name used for the same violent funnel storm
whirlwind
vstwister
9 4.0

A strong spinning column of air that lifts dust and leaves

is typically a more violent funnel-shaped land storm causing stronger damage

Antonyms

stillness
38 3.5

A time of complete quiet and no movement that feels calm

Compounds

tongue twister
  • Informal
3 6.0

A phrase that is hard to say quickly because of similar sounds

How Violent

twister
  • US
23 5.3
whirlwind
9 4.0
storm
∞ 1.0
gale
24 5.8
wind
∞ 1.0
to breeze
1 1.0

Surface Forms

twister singular
twisters plural

Morphology

twister = twist (semi-transparent) = twist + er

Formally twist + -er is clear, but the specific conventionalized referent 'tornado' is a metaphorical extension of 'thing that twists' rather than a literal agent/result.

Etymology

The word twister for a tornado comes from the verb twist, which means 'to turn', because the storm spins and 'twists' the air into a strong, narrow column. That's why people call a tornado a twister.