wrinkle

¹

[ring-kuhl]

noun

1. a small furrow or crease in the skin, especially of the face, as from aging or frowning.

2. a temporary slight ridge or furrow on a surface, due to contraction, folding, crushing, or the like.

verb (used with object)

wrinkled, wrinkling 

1. to form wrinkles in; corrugate; crease.

   Don't wrinkle your dress.

verb (used without object)

wrinkled, wrinkling 

1. to become wrinkled.

wrinkle

²

[ring-kuhl]

noun

Informal.

1. an ingenious trick or device; a clever innovation.

   a new advertising wrinkle.

wrinkle

¹

/ ˈrɪŋkəl /

noun

1. a slight ridge in the smoothness of a surface, such as a crease in the skin as a result of age

verb

1. to make or become wrinkled, as by crumpling, creasing, or puckering

wrinkle

²

/ ˈrɪŋkəl /

noun

1. informal,  a clever or useful trick, hint, or dodge

Other Word Forms

• wrinkly adjective
• wrinkleless adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of wrinkle¹

1375–1425; late Middle English (noun), back formation from wrinkled, Old English gewrinclod, past participle of gewrinclian to wind round; perhaps akin to wrick, wrench

Origin of wrinkle²

1375–1425; late Middle English, equivalent to wrinc trick ( Old English wrenc; wrench ) + -le

Word History and Origins

Origin of wrinkle¹

C15: back formation from wrinkled, from Old English gewrinclod, past participle of wrinclian to wind around; related to Swedish vrinka to sprain, Lithuanian reñgti to twist. See _wrench

Origin of wrinkle²

Old English wrenc trick; related to Middle Low German wrank struggle, Middle High German ranc sudden turn. See _wrench

Example Sentences

Its nose is working overtime, wrinkling and stretching as it sniffs the air.

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“Babushkinovs,” she said, and tapped the top of the wrinkled, shrunken potato.

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Meanwhile, Penelope kept smoothing the skirt of her new dress and adjusting it beneath her so that it might not wrinkle overmuch during the journey.

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“My dad says he’s going to make this into an office,” Gibby said as she cobbled together a makeshift wardrobe of cargo pants, wrinkled shorts, and a few T-shirts.

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A wrinkled manila folder with her husband’s birth certificate and tax returns was on Mercedes’ lap.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• crease 
• crumple 
• pucker 
• rumple 
• screw up 
• scrunch