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.
While this ad hoc adjustment will probably make the authors cringe, the results show that the share of Social Security income remaining after out-of-pocket medical spending is 71% for the median beneficiary.
From MarketWatch
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.
There are high school basketball players, and even parents, who cringe when a coach says, “You’re playing with the junior varsity.”
From Los Angeles Times
“I cringed at being a sacrificial pawn in their game of relationship chess,” Davis writes.
From Los Angeles Times
Once the child arrives, a pop star parent’s every move is doomed to face that dreaded word: cringe.
From Salon
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.
