unflinching
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of unflinching
Explanation
Use the adjective unflinching to describe someone who's fearless and steadfast, even when they're facing something very difficult. Martin Luther King, Jr. had an unflinching dedication to fighting injustice. To flinch is to pull away in fear or pain. If you don't flinch while your dad pulls a splinter out of your finger, you're unflinching. This means that you're resolute and unwavering, despite the fact that you may be dealing with something scary (or in this case, painful). Other things are figuratively unflinching, like your unflinching honesty, even in the face of a hostile reaction to what you say.
Vocabulary lists containing unflinching
Tuck Everlasting
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Siddhartha
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Put on a Bold Face: Synonyms for "Brave"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Flinching slightly, Clinton rested her expression somewhere between sadness and weariness.
From Washington Post • Jan. 26, 2016
Flinching at every flap of his wife’s lacerating tongue, he’s a near caricature of the henpecked husband, and Mr. Shannon plays him with the air of a slightly vexed manservant.
From New York Times • Apr. 9, 2015
Flinching at the prospect of a surging cash hemorrhage, the Port of New York Authority, as it was then called, showed no desire to adopt the old structure.
From New York Times • Jan. 3, 2015
Flinching at the jangle of his office phone, Ray Toland, president of Los Angeles' Nuclear Survival Corp. last week explained to a visitor his current sales policy.
From Time Magazine Archive
Flinching, I pull my chin toward my chest.
From "Starfish" by Akemi Dawn Bowman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
