Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

squinch

1 American  
[skwinch] / skwɪntʃ /

noun

Architecture.

  1. a small arch, corbeling, or the like, built across the interior angle between two walls, as in a square tower for supporting the side of a superimposed octagonal spire.

squinch 2 American  
[skwinch] / skwɪntʃ /

verb (used with object)

  1. to contort (the features) or squint.

  2. to squeeze together or contract.

verb (used without object)

  1. to squeeze together or crouch down, as to fit into a smaller space.

squinch British  
/ skwɪntʃ /

noun

  1. Also called: squinch arch.  a small arch, corbelling, etc, across an internal corner of a tower, used to support a superstructure such as a spire

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of squinch1

1490–1500; variant of scunch, short for scuncheon, Middle English sconch ( e ) on < Middle French escoinson, esconchon; see sconcheon

Origin of squinch2

1830–40; origin uncertain; cf. squint

Vocabulary lists containing squinch

"The War of the Wall" by Toni Cade Bambara

Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!

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.

He completely reinvented those songs and did not try to squinch them into too narrow a story.

From New York Times • Aug. 29, 2018

This makes your mouth squinch up, it makes you purse your lips like Kim Kardashian posing for a selfie.

From The Guardian • Oct. 15, 2015

When Maroney actually visited the White House, she and President Obama posed together in her trademark squinch, showing she was in fact a good sport.

From Slate • Feb. 22, 2014

He has a vision of the good life, where he plows a straight furrow in bare feet, and feels the good black soil of the valley squinch between his toes.

From Time Magazine Archive

He will smile one minute and frown the next, squinch his nose, tilt his head left and then right, scrunch his mouth.

From "The Unfinished Angel" by Sharon Creech

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.