A TURN OF THE SCREW | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary

Meaning of a turn of the screw in English

a turn of the screw

idiom
Add to word list Add to word list
an action that makes a bad situation worse, especially one that forces someone to do something:
Each letter from my bank is another turn of the screw.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Deteriorating and making worse
See more results »
(Definition of a turn of the screw from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)
C1

Translations of a turn of the screw

in Chinese (Traditional)
進一步施加的壓力…
See more
in Chinese (Simplified)
进一步施加的压力…
See more
Need a translator?

Get a quick, free translation!

Translator tool
 

Browse

a tough/hard nut idiom
a tough/tricky, etc. customer idiom
a tower of strength idiom
a treasure trove of something phrase
a turn of the screw idiom
a united front phrase
a walk in the park idiom
a walking disaster, encyclopedia, etc. phrase
a watch out idiom

Word of the Day

have your hands full

to be so busy that you do not have time to do anything else

About this

Blog

Binding, nailing, and gluing: talking about fastening things together

New Words

popcorn brain

More new words
has been added to list
To top
Contents
EnglishTranslations
English (UK)   Change
English (UK) English (US) Español Русский Português Deutsch Français Italiano 中文 (简体) 正體中文 (繁體) Polski 한국어 Türkçe 日本語 Tiếng Việt Nederlands Svenska Dansk Norsk हिंदी বাঙ্গালি मराठी ગુજરાતી தமிழ் తెలుగు Українська
Follow us
Choose a dictionary
  • Recent and Recommended
  • Definitions
    Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English
    English Learner’s Dictionary Essential British English Essential American English
  • Grammar and thesaurus
    Usage explanations of natural written and spoken English
    Grammar Thesaurus
  • Pronunciation
    British and American pronunciations with audio
    English Pronunciation
  • Translation
    Click on the arrows to change the translation direction.
    Bilingual Dictionaries
    • English–Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Simplified)–English
    • English–Chinese (Traditional) Chinese (Traditional)–English
    • English–Dutch Dutch–English
    • English–French French–English
    • English–German German–English
    • English–Indonesian Indonesian–English
    • English–Italian Italian–English
    • English–Japanese Japanese–English
    • English–Norwegian Norwegian–English
    • English–Polish Polish–English
    • English–Portuguese Portuguese–English
    • English–Spanish Spanish–English
    • English–Swedish Swedish–English
    Semi-bilingual Dictionaries
    English–Arabic English–Bengali English–Catalan English–Czech English–Danish English–Gujarati English–Hindi English–Korean English–Malay English–Marathi English–Russian English–Tamil English–Telugu English–Thai English–Turkish English–Ukrainian English–Urdu English–Vietnamese
  • Dictionary +Plus
    Word Lists
Contents
My word lists

Add a turn of the screw to one of your lists below, or create a new one.

More
Go to your word lists
Tell us about this example sentence: