twinge
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
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to affect (the body or mind) with a sudden, sharp pain or pang.
-
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
-
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.
See Examples For:
A tearful Keely Hodgkinson pulled out of the 400m final at the UK Athletics Championships moments before Sunday's race after feeling "a little twinge".
From BBC ● Jun. 21, 2026
Feel a twinge of embarrassment looking at some of the outfits the teams are being forced to wear.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 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
The twinge of fear that always came from thinking about that letter curled up inside my stomach like a snake waiting to strike.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
Another factor creating twinges of anxiety in markets has been the recent upward pressure in short-term funding markets, especially as they reared up at the end of October.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 9, 2025
Full of jovial bluster, Fisher’s Ali occasionally breaks his facade to reveal pangs of empathy and twinges of insecurity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 27, 2023
“Now, whenever they experience the common aches, pains and twinges of life, they wonder if it is because they have this ‘disease,’” Dr. Redberg said.
From New York Times ● May 30, 2023
Or I could prevent twinges in my body in places where I never even knew I had places.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 4, 2022
As the weeks lengthened into months of captivity, the men could not help feeling twinges of despair.
From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong
While the run in Qatar was twinged with disbelief, their journey in North America has been infused with purpose.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026
Intertwined within this main plot, and equally intriguing, are a pair of narratives twinged in history.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 13, 2023
In her wordsmith-like rhythms and reggae and neo-soul twinged beats, she answered them wittly, standing proudly in her Black womanhood.
From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2023
They also predicted that Balto would have had a double layer of black fur twinged with tan; modern sled dogs tend to have just a single layer.
From Science Magazine ● Apr. 26, 2023
My ears twinged at the sound of my home but not enough to pull me all the way out of my quiet.
From "The Honest Truth" by Dan Gemeinhart
I wish we were at home, and I was comfortably laid up in our damp garret, with a fine twinging fit of the rheumatism.
From The Battle of Hexham; or, Days of Old; a play in three acts by Colman, George
Thai forcome me in daie of twinging, And made es Layered mi forhiling.
From English Dialects From the Eighth Century to the Present Day by Skeat, Walter W. (Walter William)
She still lives simply, and enjoys good health; but she tells me if she tastes flesh meat, it produces a twinging in the breast.
From Vegetable Diet: As Sanctioned by Medical Men, and by Experience in All Ages Including a System of Vegetable Cookery by Alcott, William A. (William Andrus)
Later, when gout got to twinging him, he contented himself with cards and cronies.
From Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 12 Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Scientists by Hubbard, Elbert
His own character being immune to the little twinging impulses of humanness that grow to generous and unselfish deeds, he had looked with derision upon all persons who betrayed concern for their fellow-men.
From The Ranchman by Seltzer, Charles Alden
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.
