wreathe

[ reeth ]

verb (used with object)

, wreathed; wreathed or (Archaic) wreath·en; wreath·ing.

1. to encircle or adorn with or as with a wreath.
2. to form as a wreath by twisting or twining.
3. to surround in curving or curling masses or form.
4. to envelop:

   a face wreathed in smiles.

verb (used without object)

, wreathed; wreathed or (Archaic) wreath·en; wreath·ing.

1. to take the form of a wreath or wreaths.
2. to move in curving or curling masses, as smoke.

wreathe

/ riːð /

verb

1. to form into or take the form of a wreath by intertwining or twisting together
2. tr to decorate, crown, or encircle with wreaths
3. to move or cause to move in a twisting way

   smoke wreathed up to the ceiling

Other Words From

• wreather noun
• inter·wreathe verb interwreathed interwreathing

Word History and Origins

Origin of wreathe¹

1520–30; earlier wrethe, partly v. use of wreath, partly back formation from wrethen, obsolete past participle of writhe

Word History and Origins

Origin of wreathe¹

C16: perhaps back formation from wrēthen, from Old English writhen, past participle of wrīthan to writhe ; see wreath

Example Sentences

Even if it’s just you and your television set, you might make yourself comfortable with a mug of cocoa and a plate of cookies; you might wreathe the screen in holly for a fun holiday effect.

From Los Angeles Times

Viewing Severodonetsk from across the river that separates it from its sister city Lysychansk, one witnesses the spasms in real time: Almost a dozen columns of smoke wreathe the skyline where tons of Russian ordnance smash through a building and start a fire, the flames twinkling in the distance like a votive candle.

From Los Angeles Times

Over time, this process cuts strange etchings into the canvas of the sand: black, forbidding trees with gnarled branches and spreading roots; elsewhere, crowns of dark thorns wreathe the ground around pebbles and strands of seaweed, like fateful auras.

From The Guardian

Faced with a daunting path to reelection, he used his convention-capping speech to wreathe his presidency in superlatives and paint his opponent, Democrat Joe Biden as not exactly the personification of evil but something close to it.

From Los Angeles Times

“But at least you shall be my tree. With your leaves my victors shall wreathe their brows. You shall have your part in all my triumphs. Apollo and his laurel shall be joined together wherever songs are sung and stories told.”

From Literature

Related Words

• braid
• careen
• compose
• construct
• create
• entwine
• fabricate
• fold
• fuse
• incorporate
• intertwine
• introduce
• knit
• loop
• mesh
• sew
• snake
• spin
• splice
• twist