cringe
Meanings
- To cower, flinch, recoil, shrink, or tense, as in disgust, embarrassment, or fear.
- To experience an inward feeling of disgust, embarrassment, or fear; (by extension) to feel very embarrassed.
- To bow or crouch in servility.
- To act in an obsequious or servile manner.
- To draw (a body part) close to the body; also, to distort or wrinkle (the face, etc.).
- To bow or crouch to (someone) in servility; to escort (someone) in a cringing manner.
- A gesture or posture of cringing (recoiling or shrinking).
- An act or disposition of servile obeisance.
- A crick (“painful muscular cramp or spasm of some part of the body”).
- Things, particularly online content, which would cause an onlooker to cringe from secondhand embarrassment.
- Synonym of cringeworthy or uncool, inducing awkwardness or secondhand embarrassment.
- Stated in response to something cringeworthy.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
The verb is derived from Middle English crengen (“to bend in a haughty manner; to condescend”) [and other forms], from Old English *crenċan, *crenċġan, *crenġan (“to cause to fall or turn”), the causative of crinċġan (“to yield; to cringe; to fall; to die, perish”), from Proto-Germanic *krangijaną (“to cause to fall; to cause to turn”), from Proto-Germanic *kringaną, *krinkaną (“to fall; to turn; to yield”) (from Proto-Indo-European *grenǵʰ- (“to turn”)) + *-janą (suffix forming causatives with the sense ‘to cause to do (the action of the verb)’ from strong verbs). The English word is cognate with Danish krænge (“to turn inside out, evert”), Dutch krengen (“to careen, veer”) and Dutch kring (“circle”), Scots crenge, creenge, creinge, crienge (“to cringe; to shrug”), Swedish kränga (“to careen; to heel, lurch; to toss”), and West Frisian kringe (“to pinch; to poke; to push; to insist, urge”); and is a doublet of crinkle. The noun and adjective are derived from the verb via zero derivation.