cultural cringe

noun

In Australia, a formerly widespread belief that Australian cultural works, especially in literature and the arts, were inferior to those produced in Britain and Europe.

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Meanings

nouncultural cringe (uncountable)
  1. uncountableIn Australia, a formerly widespread belief that Australian cultural works, especially in literature and the arts, were inferior to those produced in Britain and Europe.

    Prior to the 1980s, Australian English had been widely deprecated by Australians themselves, principally as a result of a sense of inferiority known as "cultural cringe".

    2012, James Lambert, “Beyond Hobson-Jobson: A new lexicography for Indian English”, in World Englishes, page 295
Cite this entry
APA

cultural cringe. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cultural%20cringe

MLA

“cultural cringe.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cultural%20cringe. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cultural cringe,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cultural%20cringe.

Source: cultural cringe on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.