wrest

Word family

wrest /rest/ verb [transitiveT always + adverbadv/prepositionprep] → rest

1 TAKE something FROM somebody formal to take power or influence away from someone, especially when this is difficult 攫取〔权力或影响〕

They are fighting to wrest control of the party from the old leaders.

他们正极力从老一辈领导人手中夺取对党的控制权。

2 TAKE something FROM somebody literary to pull something away from someone violently 猛拉，抢夺

I managed to wrest the photograph from his grasp.

我设法把他攥在手里的照片夺了过来。

Examples from the Corpus

wrest• The Democrats failed in wresting control of Congress from the Republicans.• Mr Hikmatyar is trying to wrest control of the capital from the defence minister, Ahmad Shah Masood.• In their view, the automatic machinery was unreliable and the management was wrong to attempt to wrest controls from the shop-floor.• The thought of reclaiming what had been wrongfully wrested from him began to sough through every fevered fiber of his being.• That alliance promised the prospect of a kingdom in the areas which they wrested from Ottoman control.• Feet braced, back arched, she put both hands on the machine, trying to wrest it back.• I stood up, wresting myself out of this nightmare.• The former building society is understood to be prepared to take court action if it does not wrest the compensation from Lloyds.• A security guard managed to wrest the gun from the man.• Only the inner satellites were its permanent property; the Sun could never wrest them from its grasp.

Origin wrest

Old English wræstan

Chinese

Corpus

BNC: 18675 COCA: 15051

wrest

To remove by pulling: pull, snatch, rip...