crinkle
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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crinkles,
present (3rd person singular)
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crinkled,
past participle, past
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crinkling
present participle
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to wrinkle; crimple; ripple.
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to make slight, sharp sounds; rustle.
-
to turn or wind in many little bends and twists.
noun
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a wrinkle or ripple.
-
a crinkling sound.
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a turn or twist.
verb
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to form or cause to form wrinkles, twists, or folds
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to make or cause to make a rustling noise
noun
-
a wrinkle, twist, or fold
-
a rustling noise
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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crinklesimple
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crinklessimple
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have crinkledperfect
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has crinkledperfect
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am crinklingprogressive
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are crinklingprogressive
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is crinklingprogressive
-
have been crinklingperfect progressive
-
has been crinklingperfect progressive
Past
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crinkledsimple
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had crinkledperfect
-
was crinklingprogressive
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were crinklingprogressive
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had been crinklingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of crinkle
1350–1400; Middle English crinklen; akin to Old English crincan to bend, yield, Dutch krinkelen to crinkle; see cringle, cringe, crank 1, -le
Explanation
When you ball up a piece of paper in your hand, you crinkle it — you make a smooth thing wrinkled. Use the verb crinkle to describe what happens when you ball up a freshly ironed shirt and shove it in a suitcase, or the way your favorite teacher scrunches her eyes when she smiles. You can also call the creases or wrinkles themselves crinkles. You might become so annoyed at the crinkles in your curtains that you take them down and iron them. Crinkle comes from the Old English crincan, "to bend or to yield."
Vocabulary lists containing crinkle
Amal Unbound
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Eleanor & Park
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The Lions of Little Rock
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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:
Don’t be shy about shape or size — shoestring, steak-cut, crinkle, waffle, sweet potato — I’ll even give a pass to tater tots for the sake of this exercise.
From Salon ● Sep. 16, 2025
Remi is skittish, but food-motivated, so it may be a good idea to crinkle treats in her direction.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 14, 2023
O’Rourke has cropped hair, a graying goatee and expressive eyes that crinkle with his toothy smile.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 14, 2023
His voice is backed by light bass plucks, piano chords in the key of C and the crinkle of thousands of tiny plastic wrappers being peeled back.
From Salon ● Dec. 4, 2022
I hear the crinkle of plastic and know she's taken the bag from her daughter's hands.
From "The Sky at Our Feet" by Nadia Hashimi
The can itself has a sealed top and crinkles at the edges to make it clear the contents aren't to be drunk.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2025
The white paper beneath her crinkles as she shifts to look at the medical objects in the room.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 13, 2022
His face crinkles into a smile: “I love work.”
From The Guardian ● Mar. 22, 2020
Its scattering of paint tubes evokes metallic crinkles despite Freilicher’s gauzy style, and the blue and green strokes she’s marked on the palette — are they “daubs,” or simply daubs?
From New York Times ● Nov. 14, 2018
The foil crinkles as he pries the layers apart.
From "I Can Make This Promise" by Christine Day
Our critic raved that “Carol Bove is an illusionist. Under her spell, steel is transformed into supple leather, sagging vinyl, crinkled plastic.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
The school-age children ran through the aisles with their school supply lists crinkled in their hands, waiting for Villanueva to approve or reject the items they selected.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2023
At a Canadian Coast Guard pier in St. John’s, Newfoundland on Wednesday, crews unloaded what appeared to be the Titan’s 22-inch hull, crinkled and twisted with exposed wires and cables.
From New York Times ● Jun. 28, 2023
Her face crinkled and she began to cry, whispering that she still dreams of him.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 22, 2023
The animated dragon fizzled out a geyser of gas and shriveled into a heap of crinkled plastic.
From "Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics" by Chris Grabenstein
Tired and graying, crows’ feet crinkling around his eyes, Djokovic summoned the vintage stuff and gave himself a chance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026
“Animal organs, ground up!” one guest squealed, crinkling his nose.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2024
Its smile will be warm and welcoming, with just the right amount of pupil dilation and crinkling at the corner of the eyes.
From Salon ● Mar. 5, 2024
“Us being here, accredited, I feel like I am a part of this,” Guzmán said, eyes crinkling with a broad smile.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 12, 2023
His eyes are a deep blue, the corners crinkling as he talks.
From "Five Feet Apart" by Rachael Lippincott
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.
