crinkle
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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to wrinkle; crimple; ripple.
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to make slight, sharp sounds; rustle.
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to turn or wind in many little bends and twists.
noun
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a wrinkle or ripple.
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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
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a wrinkle, twist, or fold
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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
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have been crinklingperfect progressive
-
has been crinklingperfect progressive
Past
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crinkledsimple
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had crinkledperfect
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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:
Coaxing extra fudginess out of brownies with coffee, without sacrificing the requisite crinkle top.
From Salon ● May 12, 2026
By 8:45 a.m., the clouds cleared, the sun came out, and the grass in Nielson’s fist began to crinkle and snap.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2025
He made sure to sleep atop paperwork so it didn’t crinkle, and that the computer keyboard was in proper working order as he tested it by walking across it.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 3, 2023
Macfarlane, a seasoned lead of a dozen-plus straight Hallmark holiday romances including “Sense, Sensibility and Snowmen” and “A Shoe Addict’s Christmas,” is skilled at a Labradoresque eyebrow crinkle that could make anyone swoon.
From New York Times ● Sep. 29, 2022
As she unfolded it, it echoed through the church, amplified by the nearest microphone, and each pop and crinkle felt large and awkward.
From "Anger Is a Gift" by Mark Oshiro
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
Up close, I noticed eye crinkles from a lifetime of smiling, his booming laugh.
From New York Times ● Aug. 20, 2021
His face crinkles into a smile: “I love work.”
From The Guardian ● Mar. 22, 2020
The crinkles around his eyes are replaced with worry.
From "Amina's Song" by Hena Khan
Under her spell, steel is transformed into supple leather, sagging vinyl, crinkled plastic.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
This filthy and fascinating film is peering in, nose crinkled and stomach churning, to see what bubbles up.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 15, 2026
They’re crinkled to reflect the light, making the medals shine.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 8, 2024
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
And there were the passengers starting to get out, and they weren’t Lucas, and they walked slow and unsteady, like they’d been crinkled up for a while in a seat too small.
From "Okay for Now" by Gary D. Schmidt
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
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
A woman with a shopping bag picked her way through, waving her hand and crinkling her nose at the smell.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 30, 2023
The conceit was spectacularly imaginative: the sheets had enough form to become both dynamic sculptures and, in their murmured crinkling, significant percussive accompaniment for occasional wails from Sunny Yang’s cello.
From New York Times ● Jan. 29, 2023
She’s trying to keep her nose from crinkling like she’s smelling dog poop.
From "Blended" by Sharon M. Draper
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.
