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cringe

verb
/kɹɪnd͡ʒ/US

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.

  1. derived from *grenǵʰ-✻ — “to turn”
  2. derived from *kringaną✻
  3. inherited from *krangijaną✻ — “to cause to fall; to cause to turn”
  4. inherited from *crenċan✻
  5. inherited from crengen — “to bend in a haughty manner; to condescend”

Definitions

  1. To cower, flinch, recoil, shrink, or tense, as in disgust, embarrassment, or fear.

    • He cringed as the bird collided with the window.
    • [W]hen they were come up to the place where the Lions were, the Boys that went before, were glad to cringe behind, for they were afraid of the Lions, ſo they ſtept back and went behind.
    • And besides all this, there was a certain lofty bearing about the Pagan, which even his uncouthness could not altogether maim. He looked like a man who had never cringed and never had had a creditor.

  2. To experience an inward feeling of disgust, embarrassment, or fear

    To experience an inward feeling of disgust, embarrassment, or fear; (by extension) to feel very embarrassed.

  3. 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?
    • Lady, receive a tributary lay / From one who cringeth not to titled state / Conventional, and lacking will to prate / Of comeliness— [...]
  4. ›+ 9 more definitions

    1. 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.
      • Their [the clergy's] chief business, during a quarter of a century, had been to teach the people to cringe and the prince to domineer.

    2. To draw (a body part) close to the body

      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, [...]
      • Whip him Fellowes, / Till like a Boy you ſee him crindge his face, / And whine aloud for mercy.

    3. To bow or crouch to (someone) in servility

      To bow or crouch to (someone) in servility; to escort (someone) in a cringing manner.

    4. A gesture or posture of cringing (recoiling or shrinking).

      • He glanced with a cringe at the mess on his desk.

    5. An act or disposition of servile obeisance.

    6. A crick (“painful muscular cramp or spasm of some part of the body”).

    7. Things, particularly online content, which would cause an onlooker to cringe from…

      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!
      • Los Angeles-based writer K. Allado-McDowell's new novel, Amor Cringe, is a love letter to cringe maximalism.

    8. 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.
      • No matter which side you stand on within a relationship, most people agree that couples participating in baby talk publicly is cringe to say the least.

    9. Stated in response to something cringeworthy.

The neighborhood

Derived

cringe comedy, cringe culture, cringefest, cringeful, cringeling, cringelord, cringemaking, cringe-making, cringe-makingly, cringeometer, cringe-o-meter, cringer, cringesome, cringetastic, cringeworthy, cringing, cringingly, cringingness, cringy, cultural cringe, millennial cringe

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at cringe. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01cringe02recoil03shrinking04shrink05cower

A definitional loop anchored at cringe. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

5 hops · closes at cringe

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA