cringe
cringe Lexical Profile
cringe Game Scores & Validity
• verb
To experience an inward shiver of acute embarrassment, awkwardness, or distaste.
"I still cringe whenever I remember forgetting my lines during the school play."
To bend one's head and body in fear, apprehension, or in a servile, cowering manner.
"The stray dog cringed in the corner of the shelter until the volunteer offered it food."
• adjective
Causing feelings of acute embarrassment, awkwardness, or secondhand discomfort (informal).
"Looking back at my old social media posts from high school is honestly so cringe."
• noun
An acute feeling of secondhand embarrassment or awkwardness, or behavior and media that provoke such a feeling (informal).
"His attempt to use teenage slang in the boardroom was pure cringe."
An act of shrinking back, wincing, or recoiling in fear, pain, embarrassment, or servility.
"The loud screech of the microphone elicited a visible cringe from everyone in the auditorium."
Word Nuance & Usage
While 'cringe' has long been standard as a verb and noun, its use as a standalone adjective (e.g., 'that speech was so cringe') is informal slang; in formal writing, 'cringeworthy' is preferred.
• Rhymes for cringe
Word Origin & Etymology
From Middle English crengen, related to Old English cringan ('to yield, fall in battle, or bend'), ultimately from a Proto-Germanic root meaning 'to twist or curl up'.