wrinkle
1 Americannoun
-
a small furrow or crease in the skin, especially of the face, as from aging or frowning.
-
a temporary slight ridge or furrow on a surface, due to contraction, folding, crushing, or the like.
verb (used with object)
-
wrinkles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
wrinkled,
past participle, past
-
wrinkling
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
wrinkles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
wrinkled,
past participle, past
-
wrinkling
present participle
noun
noun
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
wrinklesimple
-
wrinklessimple
-
have wrinkledperfect
-
has wrinkledperfect
-
am wrinklingprogressive
-
are wrinklingprogressive
-
is wrinklingprogressive
-
have been wrinklingperfect progressive
-
has been wrinklingperfect progressive
Past
-
wrinkledsimple
-
had wrinkledperfect
-
was wrinklingprogressive
-
were wrinklingprogressive
-
had been wrinklingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
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; see wrench) + -le
Explanation
If you work to iron a stubborn wrinkle out of your shirt, you're trying to smooth out a crease. A wrinkle is a dent or line where that smoothness is interrupted. You might fret about a wrinkle in your skirt or a new wrinkle on your face. Another kind of wrinkle is more figurative: a small complication or problem that arises suddenly. You could describe a torrential rain storm as a wrinkle in your plan to film a sunny scene in your movie, for example. The Old English root is gewrinclod, "wrinkled, crooked, or winding," and it comes from the verb wrinclian, "to wind."
Vocabulary lists containing wrinkle
"The Forgotten Treasure" and "There Is No Word for Goodbye"
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for October 13–October 19, 2024
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"Young"
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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:
Held in a butter-yellow hangar structure on a serene hill, the show embraced each wrinkle in an outfit as “a powerful current.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 12, 2026
But there is a wrinkle: Successful companies often look cheap when they are about to take a big fall.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 10, 2026
And in the modern technological era, artificial-intelligence models add a new wrinkle to corporate conventions.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026
A huge wrinkle is that larger cities and metro areas benefit from economies of scale that help insulate them: they can afford dedicated OT security staff and redundant control systems.
From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2026
She sees all of it, I know she does, but all I see her do is wrinkle up her lips and squint her eyes a bit.
From "The Knife of Never Letting Go" by Patrick Ness
"I visited him after seeing his photo in a Facebook post. The wrinkles on his face really fascinated me. His face was unique."
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026
There are tax wrinkles to consider for savers and investors who are trying to play the higher interest-rate environment.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 5, 2026
Their faces are vivid, and haunting, whether bearing signs of greying hair and wrinkles, or the long eyelashes and chubby cheeks of a child.
From Barron's ● Nov. 3, 2026
While the accounts aren’t new, now is an opportune time to revisit their rules and wrinkles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
I swear Principal Trask glances at my armband, and then she sniffs and wrinkles her nose like something stinks.
From "A Good Kind of Trouble" by Lisa Moore Ramée
A wrinkled Northern elephant seal named Violet slid out of a crate and onto San Pedro’s Cabrillo Beach on a muggy morning in late August.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
But based on the success of the streaming series “The Mandalorian,” set around the title bounty hunter, we can all agree that his charge Grogu — green, wrinkled, big-eyed Baby You-Know-Who — is still adorable.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2026
These small, wrinkled rodents can live for decades, rarely develop cancer, and seem unusually protected from many of the diseases that normally arrive with age.
From Science Daily ● May 10, 2026
The soap-bubble fantasy of Ms. Lemann’s New Orleans rather calls to mind the Hundred Acre Wood, if Christopher Robin were a gentle, dissipated loafer in a wrinkled seersucker suit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 23, 2026
Nancy wrinkled her nose and said, "Jump where?"
From "Scream for Ice Cream: Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, #2" by Carolyn Keene
“I think it belittles memory,” she says, wrinkling her nose in distaste at the still-standing house.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
Those affected often develop early skin wrinkling, loss of skin elasticity, reduced body fat, hair loss, hardened arteries, and insulin resistance.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 7, 2025
At a time when too many actors are cosmetically prohibited from raising an eyebrow or wrinkling a nose, Keaton reminds us that an expressive face is still a movie’s most valuable asset.
From New York Times ● Mar. 14, 2024
But when I met him on the banks of the River Coln just outside Fairford, he was wrinkling his nose.
From BBC ● Jan. 17, 2024
When she heard me stir, she turned, wrinkling her forehead, and looked at me.
From "Grendel" by John Gardner
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
