cringe

Meanings

Plural: cringe, cringed, cringes

Verb

draw back, as with fear or pain
show submission or fear
To cower, flinch, recoil, shrink, or tense, as in disgust, embarrassment, or fear.
To experience an inward feeling of disgust, embarrassment, or fear; (by extension) to feel very embarrassed.
To bow or crouch in servility.
To act in an obsequious or servile manner.
To draw (a body part) close to the body; also, to distort or wrinkle (the face, etc.).
To bow or crouch to (someone) in servility; to escort (someone) in a cringing manner.

Noun

A gesture or posture of cringing (recoiling or shrinking).
An act or disposition of servile obeisance.
A crick (“painful muscular cramp or spasm of some part of the body”).
Things, particularly online content, which would cause an onlooker to cringe from secondhand embarrassment.

Adj

Synonym of cringeworthy or uncool, inducing awkwardness or secondhand embarrassment.

Intj

Stated in response to something cringeworthy.

Origin / 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.

Synonyms

cower, crawl, creep, cringeworthy or uncool, fawn, flinch, funk, grovel, inducing awkwardness or secondhand embarrassment, quail, recoil, shrink, squinch, wince

Scrabble Score: 9

cringe is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
cringe is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
cringe is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 12

cringe is a valid Words With Friends word