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.
-
to make slight, sharp sounds; rustle.
-
to turn or wind in many little bends and twists.
noun
-
a wrinkle or ripple.
-
a crinkling sound.
-
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
-
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
-
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
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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:
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
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
My 3s had a bit of a crinkle in the center now because I wore them so much.
From Salon ● Jun. 11, 2022
My dad clenches his jaw as he looks away, back at the TV screen, but my mom’s eyes crinkle as she watches me, waiting for me to keep going.
From "King and the Dragonflies" by Kacen Callender
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
Now, Levin spends weeks filling her freezer with gingerbread, cherry-hazelnut biscotti, chocolate-lemon crinkles, and sugar cookies — she’ll bring more than a dozen varieties to the party.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 25, 2022
The paper crinkles as the kites part the air with a soft swish.
From New York Times ● Jul. 21, 2022
Both Sohn and Jang also manipulate simple sheets of paper, defining modest sculptural forms with cuts, folds and crinkles.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 8, 2021
The tissue paper crinkles as I carry it back to the table, placing it in front of Uncle Phil.
From "I Can Make This Promise" by Christine Day
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
His eyes crinkled around the edges more than usual.
From "Amina's Voice" by Hena Khan
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
He looks to the side, noticing the vase full of white roses sitting on the table, his eyes crinkling as he smiles.
From "Five Feet Apart" by Rachael Lippincott
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
