thumbscrew.
A screw that is designed to be turned with the thumb and fingers, thus requiring no screwdriver or spanner (wrench).
Meaning & usage
A screw that is designed to be turned with the thumb and fingers, thus requiring no screwdriver or spanner (wrench).
An instrument of torture used to crush the fingers.
A weakness that can be taken advantage of.
Law 33: Discover Each Man's Thumbscrew ― Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree English thumb Proto-Indo-European *(s)krebʰ-der.? Latin scrōfa Old French escrouebor. ▲ Old French escruveinflu. Middle English scrue English screw English thumbscrew From thumb + screw.
Try it on your idea.
thumbscrew has 10 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.
These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.
Explore the name generatorA word with a source.
Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.