wrinkle

[ ring-kuhl ]

/ ˈrɪŋ kəl /

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See synonyms for: wrinkle / wrinkled / wrinkles on Thesaurus.com

noun

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), wrin·kled, wrin·kling.

to form wrinkles in; corrugate; crease: Don't wrinkle your dress.

verb (used without object), wrin·kled, wrin·kling.

to become wrinkled.

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Origin of wrinkle

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

Words nearby wrinkle

Wright, Richard, Wrigley, wring, wringer, wring together, wrinkle, wrinklies, wrinkly, wrist, wristband, wristdrop

Other definitions for wrinkle (2 of 2)

wrinkle²

[ ring-kuhl ]

/ ˈrɪŋ kəl /

noun Informal.

an ingenious trick or device; a clever innovation: a new advertising wrinkle.

Origin of wrinkle

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use wrinkle in a sentence

It’s just one of the wrinkles of using a technology that is only as good as the data fed into it.
A.I. algorithms had to change when COVID-19 changed consumer behavior|Aaron Pressman|September 23, 2020|Fortune
It’s often observed that US presidents seem to age faster during their years in office, their newly grey hairs and deepened wrinkles serving as outward manifestations of the stress and pressure that comes with calling the nation’s shots.
A new study shows that industry downturns age CEOs by an extra 1.5 years|Sarah Todd|September 22, 2020|Quartz
KPBS added another wrinkle Thursday when it reported that redactions in the audit could be easily removed by copying and pasting the text into another document.
Politics Report: Alleged Footnote 15|Scott Lewis and Andrew Keatts|September 5, 2020|Voice of San Diego
To eliminate any wrinkles, grab an iron and work out any creases on the highest setting—it’s not a light fabric so it can take a few passes.
Five cool ways to upcycle old coffee sacks|Harry Guinness|August 27, 2020|Popular-Science

Your goal was to make a numerical expression that equals 24, using each of four given numbers once, along with parentheses, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and exponentiation — that last one being a fun wrinkle.
Can The Hare Beat The Tortoise?|Zach Wissner-Gross|July 17, 2020|FiveThirtyEight
It's a special place that focuses closely on vegetables, definitely a new wrinkle for Houston.
In Houston, The Eats Are On Fire|Starbucks|July 10, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But there is an ugly underbelly to this otherwise charming story and it is not exactly a new wrinkle either.
MLB’s Next Headache: Cartels, Gangsters, and Their Cuban Superstars|Peter C. Bjarkman|April 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
A more recent wrinkle is the doctor who prescribes from his own office, cutting out the middleman (read: pharmacist).
New Study Says Doctors Can’t “Just Say No” to Their Patients|Kent Sepkowitz|March 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST
A fabulous new book, The Siege: 68 Hours inside the Taj Hotel, by Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy, adds a new wrinkle.
Five Years On, Mumbai Terror Masterminds Still at Large|Bruce Riedel|November 18, 2013|DAILY BEAST
This could signify a lot of things: a renewed drive by labor, or some wrinkle in the tax code that I'm not aware of.
Why Are So Many New Labor Groups Forming?|Megan McArdle|June 12, 2013|DAILY BEAST
They surround themselves with the atmosphere of the demi-monde and forget that a wrinkle is as fatal as a chaperon.
Ancestors|Gertrude Atherton
The keenest eye at that time could have detected no wrinkle on Lucy's lovely girlish face.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume III (of 3)|Charles James Wills
That is a philanthropic wrinkle for chapel keepers and other compounders of business and piety which we commend to special notice.
Our Churches and Chapels|Atticus
His ears were large, thin towards the end, and bound up with a sort of wrinkle at the origin.
Buffon's Natural History. Volume VII (of 10)|Georges Louis Leclerc de Buffon
I plunged ahead, as I saw Kramer take a breath and wrinkle his brow, about to make his pitch.
Greylorn|John Keith Laumer

British Dictionary definitions for wrinkle (1 of 2)

wrinkle¹

/ (ˈrɪŋkəl) /

noun

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

verb

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

Derived forms of wrinkle

wrinkleless, adjectivewrinkly, adjective

Word Origin for wrinkle

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

British Dictionary definitions for wrinkle (2 of 2)

wrinkle²

/ (ˈrɪŋkəl) /

noun

informal a clever or useful trick, hint, or dodge

Word Origin for wrinkle

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

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

wrinkle

Origin of wrinkle

Words nearby wrinkle

Other definitions for wrinkle (2 of 2)

Origin of wrinkle

Words related to wrinkle

How to use wrinkle in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for wrinkle (1 of 2)

Derived forms of wrinkle

Word Origin for wrinkle

British Dictionary definitions for wrinkle (2 of 2)

Word Origin for wrinkle