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Definition cringe

Etymology

From Middle English *crinchen, crenchen, crengen, from Old English *cren?an, *cren??an, *crengan (“to cause to fall, turn”), from Proto-Germanic *krangijan? (“to cause to turn”), causative of Proto-Germanic *kringan?, *krinkan? (“to fall”), from Proto-Indo-European *gren??- (“to twist, wind”). Cognate with Scots crenge, creinge, creenge, crienge (“to cringe, shrug”), West Frisian kringe (“to push, poke, insist, urge, pinch”), Dutch krengen (“to veer, careen”), Danish krænge (“to turn inside out, evert”), Swedish kränga (“to heel, lurch, toss, careen”). Related to crinkle.

Noun

cringe (countable and uncountable, plural cringes)

1. A posture or gesture of shrinking or recoiling.
2. (dated) A servile obeisance.
3. (dialectal) A crick.
4. (uncountable, slang) An embarrassing event or situation which causes an onlooker to cringe.

Verb

cringe (third-person singular simple present cringes, present participle cringing, simple past and past participle cringed)

1. (intransitive) To shrink, cower, tense or recoil, as in fear, disgust or embarrassment.
2. (dated, intransitive) To bow or crouch in servility.
3. (transitive, obsolete) To contract; to draw together; to cause to shrink or wrinkle; to distort.

Results 284 Words with the letters CRINGE

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