Sekirov Dictionary

cringe

/ˈkɹɪnd͡ʒ/

verb 6
noun 4
exclamation 1
adjective 1
forms 7

verb6

•
To cower, flinch, recoil, shrink, or tense, as in disgust, embarrassment, or fear.
- He cringed as the bird collided with the window.
(figurative) To experience an inward feeling of disgust, embarrassment, or fear; (by extension) to feel very embarrassed.
•
To bow or crouch in servility.
- And thou sly hypocrite, who now wouldst seem / Patron of liberty, who more then thou / Once fawn'd,and cring'd, and servilly ador'd / Heav'ns awful Monarch? — 1667
•
(figurative) To act in an obsequious or servile manner.
- Here the beggar accosts me; had I appeared as himself, he had asked nothing: but now he uncovers, he cringeth, he cries for relief. — 1782
(no longer used) To bow or crouch to (someone) in servility; to escort (someone) in a cringing manner.
•
(no longer used) To draw (a body part) close to the body; also, to distort or wrinkle (the face, etc.).
- [H]ow thriue you, howe perish you, and they cringing in their neckes, like rattes, smothered in the holde, [...] — 1599

noun4

•
A gesture or posture of cringing (recoiling or shrinking).
- He glanced with a cringe at the mess on his desk.
•
(slang, disapproving) Things, particularly online content, which would cause an onlooker to cringe from secondhand embarrassment.
- Bro... you just posted cringe
- There was so much cringe in that episode!
(figurative) An act or disposition of servile obeisance.
(dialect, UK) A crick (“painful muscular cramp or spasm of some part of the body”).

exclamation1

(slang) Stated in response to something cringeworthy.

adjective1

•
(slang) Synonym of cringeworthy or uncool, inducing awkwardness or secondhand embarrassment.
- Brands trying to appeal to young people with memes is the most cringe thing ever.

forms

cringed · cringedst · cringing · cringes · cringeth · cringest · cringest

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