Skip to content

cringe

/ˈkɹɪnd͡ʒ/noun, verb1 syllable

Cringe means: draw back, as with fear or pain.

Synonyms for cringe14

verb, as in draw back, as with fear or pain

flinch, squinch, funk, shrink, wince, recoil, quail

verb, as in show submission or fear

fawn, crawl, creep, cower, grovel

also used for cringe

cringeworthy or uncool, inducing awkwardness or secondhand embarrassment

Includes material from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

What does cringe mean?4

verb

1

draw back, as with fear or pain“she flinched when they showed the slaughtering of the calf”

2

show submission or fear

noun

1

some event or object that causes embarrassment and shame

2

A posture or gesture of shrinking or recoiling.

Definitions from the Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

What rhymes with cringe?5

one syllable

two syllables

syringeinfringe
Show 40 near rhymes

Cringe in a sentence

  • When he runs his fingernails down the blackboard, it makes me cringe.VERODENIA
  • I may be cringe, but you're mean, and that's worse.DJ_Saidez
  • The mere thought of him makes me cringe.Nuel
  • Mom, when I see you wearing a miniskirt it makes me cringe!frpzzd
  • Why don't you calm down? You're really making me cringe.MethodGT
  • At first I cringe, but I want more.DJ_Saidez
  • I cringe just thinking about it.nickyeow
  • I cringe at the thought of it.verymuchso

Sentences from Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR, credited to their authors.

Forms of cringe

as a noun

plural
cringes

as a verb

past tense
cringed
present participle
cringing
third-person singular
cringes
past participle
cringed