cringe
Americanverb (used without object)
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cringes,
present (3rd person singular)
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cringed,
past participle, past
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cringing
present participle
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to shrink back, bend, or crouch, especially in fear, pain, or servility; cower: They cringed and bowed before the king.
She cringed in a corner and started praying.
They cringed and bowed before the king.
-
to feel very embarrassed or awkward; react with discomfort.
Some of us cringed at the speaker’s tactless comments.
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to seek favor by acting in a servile way; fawn.
He has never cringed to anyone—in fact, he can sometimes be a bully.
noun
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an act or instance of shrinking back, bending, or crouching.
The gunshots elicited a cringe of terror.
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an instance of being very embarrassed, awkward, or uncomfortable.
Some of his outfits are bizarre enough to induce a cringe or two.
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servile or fawning deference.
adjective
verb
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to shrink or flinch, esp in fear or servility
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to behave in a servile or timid way
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informal
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to wince in embarrassment or distaste
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to experience a sudden feeling of embarrassment or distaste
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noun
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the act of cringing
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subservience to overseas cultural standards
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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cringesimple
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cringessimple
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have cringedperfect
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has cringedperfect
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am cringingprogressive
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are cringingprogressive
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is cringingprogressive
-
have been cringingperfect progressive
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has been cringingperfect progressive
Past
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cringedsimple
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had cringedperfect
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was cringingprogressive
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were cringingprogressive
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had been cringingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cringe
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English crengen, crenchen (transitive); Old English crencean, crencgean (unattested), causative of cringan, crincan “to yield, fall (in battle)”
Explanation
When you cringe, your body language shows you don't like what you see and hear. You close your eyes and grimace. You may even jerk your body away from the offensive sight or sound, like the old picture of you in an "awkward stage" that makes you cringe whenever you see it. Whether it's a song you hate or someone mentioning an embarrassing moment from the past, you cringe at things that are unpleasant. If you think about the way your body involuntarily flinches or bends in those situations, you won’t be surprised to learn that the word cringe can be traced back to the Old English word cringan, meaning “give way, fall (in battle), become bent.” That’s exactly what your body does when you cringe!
Vocabulary lists containing cringe
The Lingo of Body Language
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"Of Mice and Men"
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List 13
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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.
See Examples For:
But many comments and shares called the video "cringe".
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
“To be cringe about it, the ’90s babydoll dress wasn’t designed for the male gaze,” says my friend Rachel, a keen observer of Gen X fashion then and now.
From Salon ● Jun. 12, 2026
Now I cringe as she bricks the trey and immediately complains to the officials, spreading her arms, shaking her head, screaming in their face.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 7, 2026
Anytime I see a word like “bulletproof” — or any of its siblings like “sure thing” or “safe bet” — I cringe.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 3, 2026
I cringe at my nickname and the fact that she finally remembers my existence.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
"That was me in high school," she cringes.
From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2026
He drives a Ford pickup truck and cringes at needing a security detail, according to a person who knows him well.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026
“Curb Your Enthusiasm” served up a symphony of social disaster over the course of 12 seasons and almost 24 years on HBO, wringing cackles and cringes from the misadventures of the serially inappropriate Larry David.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2024
Everyone I know in Seattle specifically cringes when they hear that and I understand that that is a very strange characteristic!
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 8, 2024
Sammy rubs his forehead and cringes, as if realizing he walked right into that one.
From "X: A Novel" by Ilyasah Shabazz
Like almost every parent, I cringed whenever my child or another player headed the ball.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
“Daddy’s home,” someone said, and a nation cringed.
From Slate ● Nov. 16, 2023
The lead lawyer for Google "visibly cringed" when the specific share of ad revenue sent to Apple was revealed, according to Bloomberg.
From BBC ● Nov. 14, 2023
Sheehan and a few Meow Wolf companions cringed and laughed awkwardly, but they shouldn’t have felt surprised.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2023
The words came out with a bitterness, and he cringed.
From "Anger Is a Gift" by Mark Oshiro
Anyone beyond the land of candlepin bowling and cringing at red clam chowder thought they had a better shot at finishing at the bottom of the standings than reaching the Super Bowl.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 26, 2026
These lies are so dumb and easy to disprove that the onetime criminal defense attorney in me is cringing.
From Slate ● Aug. 16, 2024
And I didn’t want to ruin that moment, so I was just stuck in a different room, laughing and cringing, all that stuff.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 2, 2024
Fortunately, the class had generated enough trust that we could express ourselves freely: cringing at some passages and laughing at others, agreeing on the book’s importance while allowing for divergent assessments of its literary merit.
From New York Times ● Mar. 3, 2023
I said, cringing even as the word left my mouth.
From "Made You Up" by Francesca Zappia
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.
