wrought
/rɔ:t/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Adjective:
- Shaped, formed, or manufactured through skilled effort or work: Refers to objects, especially metals, that have been crafted, hammered, or molded into a desired form.
- Elaborately or delicately made; ornamented: Describes something that is carefully and artistically crafted, often with intricate detail.
- (Archaic) A past tense and past participle of the verb 'work': Used in older texts as the simple past and past participle form of 'to work'.
Usage and Examples
- Adjective:
- The gate was made of beautifully wrought iron. (The gate was constructed from iron that had been skillfully shaped and decorated.)
- She admired the wrought silver details on the antique box. (She admired the silver on the box, which had been elaborately worked and formed.)
- (Archaic) He wrought a great change in the company's policies. (He worked to achieve or brought about a great change.)
Advanced Usage and Notes
- "Wrought iron": A specific term for a tough, malleable form of iron suitable for forging or shaping, often used for decorative metalwork like gates and fences.
- The balcony featured intricate wrought iron railings.
- "High-wrought": (Literary/Archaic) Describes something created with great skill and artistry, or a state of high emotion.
- The audience was in a high-wrought state of excitement.
- The adjective 'wrought' is almost always used before a noun (attributively). It is rarely used predicatively (e.g., "The iron was wrought" sounds archaic).
Variants and Related Words
- Work (verb): The base verb from which 'wrought' is historically derived.
- Overwrought (adj): 1. Excessively elaborate or ornate. 2. In a state of nervous excitement or agitation.
- Her speech was overwrought with emotion.
- Unwrought (adj): Not worked into a finished form; in a raw or natural state.
- The unwrought ore was shipped to the refinery.
Synonyms
- Crafted: Made skillfully, especially by hand.
- Forged: Shaped by heating and hammering (specifically for metal).
- Fashioned: Made into a particular form.
- Hammered: Formed or shaped with a hammer.
- Ornamented: Decorated; adorned.
Antonyms
- Unworked: Not shaped or processed.
- Raw: In its natural state; not processed.
- Cast: Formed by pouring molten material into a mold (contrasts with the hammering/forging implied by 'wrought').
Idioms and Phrases
- "Wrought havoc": (A common collocation, though 'wreaked havoc' is more standard in modern usage) Caused widespread damage or chaos.
- The storm wrought havoc on the coastal village.
- "Of his own making/wrought": (Phrase) Used to indicate that a situation, especially a bad one, is someone's own fault or creation.
- He was trapped in a dilemma of his own wrought.
Adjective
- shaped to fit by or as if by altering the contours of a pliable mass (as by work or effort)
- a shaped handgrip
- the molded steel plates
- the wrought silver bracelet