flinch

¹ American  

[flinch] / flɪntʃ /

verb (used without object)

1. to draw back or shrink, as from what is dangerous, difficult, or unpleasant.

   Synonyms:

   blench, withdraw, recoil

2. to shrink under pain; wince.

3. Croquet. to let the foot slip from the ball in the act of croqueting.

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verb (used with object)

1. to draw back or withdraw from.

noun

1. an act of flinching.

flinch ² American  

[flinch] / flɪntʃ /

verb (used with object)

1. flense.

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flinch ¹ British  

/ flɪntʃ /

verb

1. to draw back suddenly, as from pain, shock, etc; wince

   he flinched as the cold water struck him

2. (often foll by from) to avoid contact (with); shy away

   he never flinched from his duty

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noun

1. the act or an instance of drawing back

2. a card game in which players build sequences

flinch ² British  

/ flɪntʃ /

verb

1. a variant of flense

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Other Word Forms

• flincher
  noun
• flinchingly
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of flinch

First recorded in 1555–65; perhaps nasalized variant of dial. flitch to flit, shift one's position

Explanation

To flinch is to react to pain by wincing, pulling away, or cringing. Often it's used to describe a person who shows a moment of weakness or fright: he was so tough, I thought he'd never flinch, but snakes really freak him out. To flinch is to pull away suddenly or recoil when something frightens or hurts you. People flinch at different things. Needles, for example, cause some people to flinch, while they're not even noticed by others. If you can withstand something awful without showing it, you're likely to hear someone say "Wow! You didn't even flinch!" Think of it as a combination of flee and pinch. If you don't flee when you get pinched, you don't flinch.

Example Sentences

A poster advertising "Never Flinch" by Stephen King is displayed at Simon and Schuster publishing during the London Book Fair at Olympia Exhibition Centre on March 12, 2025, in London, England.

From Salon • May 27, 2025

Flinch, cringe, weep, laugh at his books; only indifference seems impossible.

From New York Times • Jun. 8, 2020

Their goal: to travel from their home base at a Flinch, North Carolina public access station to Los Angeles while shooting 10 episodes of Between Two Ferns.

From The Verge • Sep. 20, 2019

On "The Late Late Show," the members of the singing group Fifth Harmony agreed to a game of "Flinch."

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 13, 2017

Flinch, flinsh, v.i. to shrink back: to fail.—ns.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various

Related Words

• balk
• blanch
• blink
• cower
• cringe
• recoil