twinge
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
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to affect (the body or mind) with a sudden, sharp pain or pang.
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to pinch; tweak; twitch.
verb (used without object)
noun
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a sudden brief darting or stabbing pain
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a sharp emotional pang
a twinge of guilt
verb
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to have or cause to have a twinge
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obsolete (tr) to pinch; tweak
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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twingesimple
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twingessimple
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have twingedperfect
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has twingedperfect
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am twingingprogressive
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are twingingprogressive
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is twingingprogressive
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have been twingingperfect progressive
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has been twingingperfect progressive
Past
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twingedsimple
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had twingedperfect
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was twingingprogressive
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were twingingprogressive
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had been twingingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of twinge
before 1000; Middle English twengen to pinch, Old English twengan
Explanation
A twinge is a sting or pang of pain that happens suddenly. Are you recovering from a basketball injury? You may still feel a twinge of discomfort in your knee when you do a layup. You can experience a physically painful twinge, but there are also twinges that are more emotional, like the twinge of sadness you feel when you look at photos of your old house. Use this word as a verb, too, if you like: "Did your shoulders twinge when you gave your little brother a piggyback ride?" Long ago, to twinge meant to pinch, and the word's origin traces back to the Old English twengan, "to pinch."
Vocabulary lists containing twinge
That Hurts! Synonyms for "Pain"
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Starfish
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Keep It Together, Keiko Carter
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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.
When we are out of sync, he says, we experience it as a kind of judder or twinge of social discomfort which “is your brain working a little harder to fix predictions that are wrong.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 22, 2026
But, intentional or not, contained within his September critique was a twinge of doubt about the viability of a defence-first mantra in the modern age.
From BBC • Jan. 17, 2025
“The real challenge from a public health perspective is, how do you recognize when your little twinge of loneliness, which everyone has from time to time, starts to spiral out of control?”
From Salon • Dec. 6, 2024
But I also found comfort in the idea that it was a possibility—and a twinge of anger toward the many gynecologists I had seen who had never mentioned it as one.
From Slate • Aug. 23, 2024
“I suppose so,” Sticky said doubtfully, with a twinge of worry in his voice, “but what if there’s someone outside? I can’t keep an eye out from over by the light switch.”
From "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart
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.
