cringe

C2+ Topic:Actions & Processes

US /krɪndʒ/ UK /krɪndʒ/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

verb
to recoil or wince in embarrassment or fear

I still cringe when I recall my stammering speech.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to recoil or wince in... recoil wince flinch cower shrinkblenchquail

Opposites

confront face

Word family

Derived forms cringingcringercringeworthy

Related forms crinkle

Simplified etymology

Cringe entered Middle English and probably comes from Old English crincan, “to bend.” It is therefore related to crank in its mechanical sense, whose underlying idea is something bent together.

Etymology

From Middle English 'crengen', a causative related to Old English 'cringan' ('to give way, fall in battle, bend'), from Proto-Germanic '*krenganą'.

cringan Old English *krenganą Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Actions & Processes

External links

# cringe

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** /krɪndʒ/
**IPA (UK):** /krɪndʒ/

## Meanings
1. to recoil or wince in embarrassment or fear

## Examples
- I still cringe when I recall my stammering speech.

## Synonyms
- recoil
- wince
- flinch
- cower
- shrink
- blench
- quail

## Antonyms
- confront
- face

## Derived Forms
- cringing
- cringer
- cringeworthy

## Related Forms
- crinkle

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: cringan
- Root: *krenganą

## Etymology
From Middle English 'crengen', a causative related to Old English 'cringan' ('to give way, fall in battle, bend'), from Proto-Germanic '*krenganą'.

## AI Etymology
Cringe comes from Middle English 'crengen', a causative related to Old English 'cringan' ('to give way, fall in battle, bend'), from Proto-Germanic '*krenganą'. The etymological trail includes Old English cringan and Proto-Germanic *krenganą. As a verb, cringe means to recoil or wince in embarrassment or fear. The same family is visible in derived forms such as cringing, cringer, and cringeworthy and related forms such as crinkle.

## Topics
- Actions & Processes

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