1. To surround or cover something in a curling or ringlike form, often decoratively.
2. To twist or weave flexible material into a ring or decorative arrangement.
3. To move or extend in winding circles, coils, or spirals.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- wreathe in mist
- wreathe with flowers
- smoke wreathes a chimney
On the page
Woodsmoke wreathed the cottage roof in the still evening air.
Nearby words
Word forms
- Base
- wreathe
- Past tense
- wreathed
- Past participle
- wreathed
- Present participle
- wreathing
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- wreathe
- Present continuous
- am/is/are wreathing
- Present perfect
- have/has wreathed
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been wreathing
- Past
- wreathed
- Past continuous
- was/were wreathing
- Past perfect
- had wreathed
- Past perfect continuous
- had been wreathing
- Future
- will wreathe
- Future continuous
- will be wreathing
- Future perfect
- will have wreathed
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been wreathing
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
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Usage notes
Primary category: literary / elevated prose. Lexical Type: Word. Forms: wreathe; wreathes; wreathed; wreathed; wreathing Commonness: moderately common (editorial estimate; not a corpus frequency statistic). Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1; numbered fields keep each relevant meaning separate. Research distinction: MW distinguishes encircling, interweaving, and intransitive spiraling; grammatical differences retained. Writing functions: precise action, characterization. Third-person singular: wreathes.
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