cringe
Americanverb (used without object)
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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.
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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
- cringer noun
- cringingly adverb
- cringingness noun
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)”
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.
“So all those years of ‘cool’ usernames and cringe emails can be erased… shame it can’t delete the memories associated with them,” another X user posted.
From Los Angeles Times
Hence, the inspiration for the photo: a take on the quintessential family-style portrait — the ones you kind of cringe at when you walk into someone’s home, radiating manufactured happiness.
From Los Angeles Times
The track is so unapologetically — ugh, cringe word, I know — Mexican.
From Los Angeles Times
Despite being hailed for his bravery by police and prosecutors, Mr Barr said being called a hero makes him "cringe" and added: "Every man that I seen was trying to do the same."
From BBC
Some old songs I kind of cringe at.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
