Meanings
comparative more screwed · superlative most screwed
- mildlyslangvulgarBeset with unfortunate circumstances that seem difficult or impossible to overcome; in imminent danger.
They found out about our betrayal, so now we're screwed.
Synonyms: fucked
- UKdatedslangIntoxicated.
Besides they were dreadfully afraid that Freddy Malins might turn up screwed. They would not wish for worlds that any of Mary Jane's pupils should see him under the influence; […]
1904–1907 (date written), James Joyce, “The Dead”, in Dubliners, London: Grant Richards, published June 1914, →OCLC, pages 217–2181 more example
"[…] Did you know that my husband came home intoxicated?" Mrs. Brown laughed. "Oh, not so bad as that, surely! Only a little 'screwed.' George was 'quisby,' too. But then its Christmas, you know."
1889, Belgravia, volume 70, page 15Synonyms: drunk
- participlepastsimple past and past participle of screw
He screwed the boards together tightly.
2 more examples
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.
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveBeset with unfortunate circumstances that seem difficult or impossible to overcome; in imminent danger.
adjectiveIntoxicated.
Origin
From screw + -ed. * The modern sense of screwed originates in the mid-1600s 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 screw gained a sexual connotation in the early 1700s, 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 participial adjectives. * The sense meaning "intoxicated" is from the early 1800s, and is associated with the term screwy, and the idiom to have a screw loose.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian пиян
- пиян (pijan)slang: intoxicated
Catalan fotut, fastiguejat
- fotutbeset with unfortunate circumstances
- fastiguejatbeset with unfortunate circumstances
- putejatbeset with unfortunate circumstances
Chinese Mandarin 完蛋
- 完蛋 (wándàn)beset with unfortunate circumstances
Dutch in de nesten
- in de nestenbeset with unfortunate circumstances
Finnish pulassa, kusessa
- pulassabeset with unfortunate circumstances
- kusessabeset with unfortunate circumstances
- kännissäslang: intoxicated
French foutu
- foutubeset with unfortunate circumstances
German in der Scheiße stecken
- in der Scheiße steckenbeset with unfortunate circumstances
Icelandic í súpunni
- í súpunnibeset with unfortunate circumstances
Irish san fhaopach
- san fhaopachbeset with unfortunate circumstances
Japanese 一巻の終わり
- 一巻の終わり (ikkan no owari)beset with unfortunate circumstances
Polish w tarapatach, nawalony
- w tarapatachbeset with unfortunate circumstances
- nawalonyslang: intoxicated
Portuguese fodido, lixado
- fodidobeset with unfortunate circumstances
- lixadobeset with unfortunate circumstances
- quilhadobeset with unfortunate circumstances
- tramadobeset with unfortunate circumstances
Russian кранты́, хана́
- кранты́ (krantý)beset with unfortunate circumstances
- хана́ (xaná)beset with unfortunate circumstances
- каю́к (kajúk)beset with unfortunate circumstances
- кирды́к (kirdýk)beset with unfortunate circumstances
- капу́т (kapút)beset with unfortunate circumstances
- кры́шка (krýška)beset with unfortunate circumstances
- пизде́ц (pizdéc)beset with unfortunate circumstances
- бухо́й (buxój)slang: intoxicated
Spanish jodido, cagado
- jodidobeset with unfortunate circumstances
- cagadobeset with unfortunate circumstances
- en el hornobeset with unfortunate circumstances
- apañadobeset with unfortunate circumstances
- del ortoslang: intoxicated
Swedish pantad
- pantadbeset with unfortunate circumstances
Turkish ayvayı yemek
- ayvayı yemekbeset with unfortunate circumstances
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with screwed
Cite this entry
screwed. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/screwed
“screwed.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/screwed. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “screwed,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/screwed.
Source: screwed on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.