screwed

English

Pronunciation

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Etymology

• The modern sense of screwed originates in the mid-1600's with a sense of "to screw" as a means of "exerting pressure or coercion", probably in reference to instruments of torture (e.g. thumbscrews). It quickly gained a wider general sense of "in a bind; in unfortunate inescapable circumstances". When the verb "to screw" gained a sexual connotation in the early 1700's, it joined the long-lasting association of sexual imagery as a metaphor for domination, leading to screwed gaining synonyms like fucked and shagged. On a more general note, this is a prime example of the frequent tendency for verb participles to evolve into adjectives.
• The sense meaning "intoxicated" is from the early 1800's, and is associated with the term screwy, and the idiom to have a screw loose.

Adjective

screwed (comparative more screwed, superlative most screwed)

1. (slang) beset with unfortunate circumstances that seem difficult or impossible to overcome; in imminent danger.

   They found out about our betrayal, so now we're screwed.

2. (slang, UK) intoxicated.

Usage notes

• Often employed as a bowdlerization, or substitution, for fucked.

Synonyms

• (beset): fucked, shagged (British)

Translations

beset with unfortunate circumstances

• Finnish: pulassa (fi)

• Spanish: jodido (es) m, cagado (es), en el horno (es) (slang informal)

slang: intoxicated

• Español:

  Spanish: del orto (es) c (vulgar slang)

• Finnish: kännissä (fi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Portuguese: fudido (pt)

See also

• screwed up

Usage notes

Because the sexual act as a metaphor for domination is a frequent association for the term 'screwed', it is potentially offensive in polite circles.

Verb

screwed

1. simple past tense and past participle of screw

   He screwed the boards together tightly.

   I got screwed at the swap meet yesterday.

   • 1641, Richard Chambers (merchant), quoted in Hannis Taylor, The Origin and Growth of the English Constitution: An Historical Treatise, Part II: The After-Growth of the Constitution, H.O. Houghton & Company (1889), p. 274,

     […] merchants are in no part of the world so screwed as in England. In Turkey, they have more encouragement.