cringe

present singular third person cringes · participle present cringing · participle past cringed · past cringed · first person past singular cringed · archaic present second person singular cringest · past second person singular cringed · archaic past second person singular cringedst · present singular third person cringes · archaic present singular third person cringeth · past singular third person cringed · past plural cringed · past subjunctive cringed · participle present cringing · participle past cringed · alternative dialectal crinch

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

   He cringed as the bird collided with the window.

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   [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.

   1684, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress. From This World to That which is to Come: The Second Part. […], London: […] Nathaniel Ponder […], →OCLC; reprinted in The Pilgrim’s Progress as Originally Published by John Bunyan: Being a Fac-simile Reproduction of the First Edition, London: Elliot Stock […], 1875, →OCLC, page 69

   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.

   1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “A Bosom Friend”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 55

   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, [...]

   1860, [John B. Newman], “The Combat”, in Wa-Wa-Wanda: A Legend of Old Orange, New York, N.Y.: Rudd & Carleton, […], →OCLC, page 28

   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.

   1917 April, Jack London, chapter VIII, in Jerry of the Islands, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC, page 115

   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.

   2017 March 28, Owen Jones, “The bigots are on the march – and with 'Legs-it' the Daily Mail bears the flag”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 01 Dec 2022

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

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   I'm cringing watching this easily Blizzard- or Square Enix-worthy new trailer for Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls Online. Not because it's bad — it's a deftly rendered slice of CGI. But it must have cost a fortune. It makes me want to say "Spend the money on knocking the game out of the park, please, not the frippery, Bethesda." But oh what frippery.

   2014 January 29, Matt Peckham, “8 Minutes of Ridiculously Beautiful The Elder Scrolls Online Cinematic Footage”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 16 Aug 2022

3. intransitiveTo bow or crouch in servility.

   Humbly thou cringest that with nod of head / Couldst fling me seaward from they steepest cliffs!

   1891, Edgar Fawcett, “How a Queen Loved”, in Songs of Doubt and Dream: (Poems), New York, N.Y.; Toronto, Ont.: Funk & Wagnalls, →OCLC, stanza I, page 155

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   [I]f they keepe their wits, yet they are accompted fooles by reaſon of their carriage, becauſe they cannot ride a horſe, which euery Clowne can doe; ſalute and court a Gentlewoman, carue at table, cringe and make congies, which euery common ſwaſher can doe, [...]

   1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Loue of Learning; or Ouer-much Study. With a Digression of the Misery of Schollers, and Why the Muses are Melancholy.”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 1, section 2, member 3, subsection 15, page 113

   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?

   1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 958–961

   Lady, receive a tributary lay / From one who cringeth not to titled state / Conventional, and lacking will to prate / Of comeliness— [...]

   1846, Thomas Cooper, “To the Countess of Blessington”, in The Baron’s Yule Feast: A Christmas-rhyme, London: Jeremiah How, […], →OCLC

   Leclère was bent on the coming of the day when Bâtard [a dog] should wilt in spirit and cringe and whimper at his feet.

   1902, Jack London, “Bâtard”, in The Faith of Men and Other Stories, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., published September 1904, →OCLC, page 207

   He heard the hateful clank of their chains; he felt them cringe and grovel, and there rose within him a protest and a prophecy.

   1903 April 18, W[illiam] E[dward] Burghardt Du Bois, “Of Alexander Crummell”, in The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., →OCLC, page 219

4. figurativelyintransitiveTo 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.

   1782, John Brown, “The Christian Journal of a Summer-day”, in The Christian Journal; or, Common Incidents, Spiritual Instructors. […], 4th edition, Edinburgh: […] Gavin Alston; [s]old by William Coke, […], →OCLC, page 119

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   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.

   1851, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XI, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume III, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 105

   Even to the present day the Arabs consider treating a Hutaymi as unmanly as to strike a woman. When a Felláh says to another, "Tat'hattim" (= Tat'maskin, or Tat'zallí), he means, "Thou cringest, thou makest thyself contemptible (as a Hutaymi)."

   1880 June 23, Richard F[rancis] Burton, “The Ethnology of Modern Midian”, in Transactions of the Royal Society of Literature of the United Kingdom, volume XII (Second Series), London: John Murray, […]; Trübner and Co., […], published 1882, →OCLC, part I (Notices of the Tribes of Midian, …), page 286

5. obsoletetransitiveTo draw (a body part) close to the body; also, to distort or wrinkle (the face, etc.).

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

   c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene xiii], page 357, column 2

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   [H]ow thriue you, howe periſh you, and they cringing in their neckes, like rattes, ſmothered in the holde, [...]

   1599, [Thomas] Nashe, Nashes Lenten Stuffe, […], London: […] [Thomas Judson and Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and C[uthbert] B[urby] […], →OCLC, page 10

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

plural cringes

1. countableA gesture or posture of cringing (recoiling or shrinking).

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

2. countablefigurativelyAn act or disposition of servile obeisance.
3. UKcountabledialectalA crick (“painful muscular cramp or spasm of some part of the body”).
4. derogatoryslanguncountableThings, particularly online content, which would cause an onlooker to cringe from secondhand embarrassment.

   Bro... you just posted cringe

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   There was so much cringe in that episode!

   Soon, there were Instagram compilation accounts dedicated to collecting the worst cringe, with a focus on cringe created by not-quite-random people who were performing, and failing, for thousands of their peers on TikTok.

   2022 January 15, Kaitlyn Tiffany, “How Did We Get So 'Cringe'?”, in Jeffrey Goldberg, editor, The Atlantic, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 10 May 2023

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

   2022 May 24, “A Novelist and an AI Cowrote Your Next Cringe-Read”, in Wired, San Francisco, Calif.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 19 May 2023

   Many young people are also reevaluating what once constituted cringe, attributing use of the term to unacknowledged bigotry more than just a rejection of sincerity. Some niche communities, such as furries, anime fans, and fetish groups, who were once mocked on social media, have since amassed cultural power that has launched them into the mainstream.

   2023 April 23, Taylor Lorenz, “'Am I Cringey? Yes. Do I Care? Absolutely Not'”, in Rolling Stone, New York, N.Y.: Penske Media Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 22 Jun 2023

comparative more cringe · superlative most cringe

1. derogatoryslangSynonym of cringeworthy or uncool, inducing awkwardness or secondhand embarrassment.

   Brands trying to appeal to young people with memes is the most cringe thing ever.

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   Last week, while giving a commencement speech to New York University graduates, pop star Taylor Swift offered a timely bit of advice: “No matter how hard you try to avoid being cringe, you will look back on your life and cringe retrospectively. Cringe is unavoidable over a lifetime.”

   2022 May 24, Kate Knibbs, quoting Taylor Swift, “A Novelist and an AI Cowrote Your Next Cringe-Read”, in Wired, →ISSN, archived from the original on 19 May 2023

   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.

   2022 July 5, Darshita Goyal, “What's The Deal With Baby Talk In Relationships?”, in Refinery29, archived from the original on 09 Sep 2023

   Instagram may not be on its deathbed, but its transformation from cool to cringe is a sea change in the social-media universe.

   2022 November 30, Kate Lindsay, “Instagram Is Over”, in Jeffrey Goldberg, editor, The Atlantic, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 18 Jun 2023

   We may have to face the fact that the current state of AI art is cringe because we're cringe. Really, we're no better than the unimaginative and self-obsessed people from the history books that commissioned bad portraiture.

   2023 January 20, Laura Pitcher, “Why Is AI Art So Cringe?”, in VICE, archived from the original on 02 May 2023

   It's all kinda cringe, a truly elemental example of pretentious, self-important film-school pap, but whatever, let he who is without cringe throw the first stone.

   2024 June 19, Folding Ideas [pseudonym; Dan Olson], 1:08:22 from the start, in I Don't Know James Rolfe, via YouTube

   Synonyms: cringeworthy or uncool, inducing awkwardness or secondhand embarrassment

1. derogatoryslangStated in response to something cringeworthy.