Cringe

/kɹɪnd͡ʒ/ · verb

Meaning

(intransitive) To cower, flinch, recoil, shrink, or tense, as in disgust, embarrassment, or fear..

Definitions by Sense

1. (intransitive) To cower, flinch, recoil, shrink, or tense, as in disgust, embarrassment, or fear.
2. (intransitive, figuratively) To experience an inward feeling of disgust, embarrassment, or fear; (by extension) to feel very embarrassed.
3. (intransitive) To bow or crouch in servility.
4. (intransitive, figuratively) To act in an obsequious or servile manner.
5. (transitive, obsolete) To draw (a body part) close to the body; also, to distort or wrinkle (the face, etc.).
6. (transitive, obsolete) To bow or crouch to (someone) in servility; to escort (someone) in a cringing manner.
7. (countable) A gesture or posture of cringing (recoiling or shrinking).
8. (countable, figuratively) An act or disposition of servile obeisance.

Example Sentences

He cringed as the bird collided with the window.

[W]hen they were come up to the place where the Lions were, the Boys that went before, were glad to cringe behind, for they were afraid of the Lions, ſo they ſtept back and went behind.

And besides all this, there was a certain lofty bearing about the Pagan, which even his uncouthness could not altogether maim. He looked like a man who had never cringed and never had had a creditor.

Here the angel ceased, and frowning, / Hurled his heavy gauntlet at him; / Hurled, as best he could, the creature, / Cringing as the Serpent cringeth, / Coiled, and with his crest uplifted; / And then prone upon his belly, / Crawled away upon his belly, [...]

But he [Jerry, a dog] made no whimper. Nor did he wince or cringe to the blows. He bored straight in, striving, without avoiding a blow, to beat and meet the blow with his teeth.

Perhaps the Daily Mail should be sued for damaging people's health? Across the nation, millions have cringed so hard at its audaciously sexist front page that they've strained their face muscles, or given themselves a migraine from slamming their heads repeatedly against the nearest wall.

I'm cringing watching this easily Blizzard- or Square Enix-worthy new trailer for Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls Online. Not because it's bad — it's a deftly rendered slice of CGI. But it must have cost a fortune. It makes me want to say "Spend the money on knocking the game out of the park, please, not the frippery, Bethesda." But oh what frippery.

[I]f they keepe their wits, yet they are accompted fooles by reaſon of their carriage, becauſe they cannot ride a horſe, which euery Clowne can doe; ſalute and court a Gentlewoman, carue at table, cringe and make congies, which euery common ſwaſher can doe, [...]

Synonyms for cringe

Antonyms for cringe

Related Words

Word Forms

• cringes
• cringing
• cringed
• no-table-tags
• glossary
• cringe
• cringest
• cringedst
• cringeth
• -
• crinch
• more cringe
• most cringe

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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