retordre

to twist again

verb ruh-TOR-druh Rare

Usage Note

Retordre on its own means to twist again or re-twist thread or rope. It almost exclusively appears in the fixed idiom donner du fil à retordre à quelqu'un — literally 'to give someone thread to re-twist' — meaning to give someone a hard time or make life difficult for them. Outside this phrase, the verb is rare in everyday speech.

Examples

"Ce dossier nous a vraiment donné du fil à retordre."

Natural Translation

This case really gave us a hard time.

Literal Translation

This file us-has really given of-the thread to re-twist.

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