turn of the screw
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
A sudden or intense increase in pressure or tension
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
tăng đột ngột hoặc mạnh áp lực hoặc căng thẳng
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: a screw being turned
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The plot took a turn of the screw when the detective discovered the surprising clue
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
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Common questions
What does “turn of the screw” mean?
A sudden or intense increase in pressure or tension Literally: a screw being turned
Is “turn of the screw” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.
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