cringe
/ˈkɹɪnd͡ʒ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.54 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
1
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To cower, flinch, recoil, shrink, or tense, as in disgust, embarrassment, or fear.
Intransitive verb
verb
To experience an inward feeling of disgust, embarrassment, or fear; (by extension) to feel very embarrassed.
Intransitive verb
verb
To draw (a body part) close to the body; also, to distort or wrinkle (the face, etc.).
Obsolete; Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "Here the angel ceased, and frowning, / Hurled his heavy gauntlet at him; / Hurled, as best he could, the creature, / Cringing as the Serpent cringeth, / Coiled, and with his crest uplifted; / And then prone upon his belly, / Crawled away upon his belly, [...]"
- "But he [Jerry, a dog] made no whimper. Nor did he wince or cringe to the blows. He bored straight in, striving, without avoiding a blow, to beat and meet the blow with his teeth."
- "Perhaps the Daily Mail should be sued for damaging people's health? Across the nation, millions have cringed so hard at its audaciously sexist front page that they've strained their face muscles, or given themselves a migraine from slamming their heads repeatedly against the nearest wall."
Etymology
The verb is derived from Middle English crengen (“to bend in a haughty manner; to condescend”) [and other forms], from Old English *crenġan, *crenċġan, *crenċan (“to cause to fall or turn”) from Proto-Germanic *krangijaną (“to cause to fall; to cause to turn”), causative of Proto-Germanic *kringaną, *krinkaną (“to fall; to turn; to yield”) (> Old English crin(c)gan (“to yield; to cringe; to fall; to die, perish”)), from Proto-Indo-European *grenǵʰ- (“to turn”)). The causative suffix is from *-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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *grenǵʰ-, crengen, *crenġan, *krangijaną, *kringaną
Usage
Inflected Forms
cringes (present, singular)
cringing (participle, present)
cringed (participle, past)
cringed (past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
cringed (first person, past)
cringest (archaic, present)
cringed (past, second person)
cringedst (archaic, past)
cringeth (archaic, present)
cringed (past, singular)