Adjacent Words

Cringe definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CRINGE, v.t. [G.] Properly, to shrink; to contract; to draw together; a popular use of the word. [Vulgarly, scringe.]
You see him cringe his face.
CRINGE, v.i. To bow; to bend with servility; to fawn; to make court by mean compliances.
Flatterers are always bowing and cringing.
CRINGE, n. A bow; servile civility.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: draw back, as with fear or pain; "she flinched when they showed the slaughtering of the calf" [syn: flinch, squinch, funk, cringe, shrink, wince, recoil, quail]
2: show submission or fear [syn: fawn, crawl, creep, cringe, cower, grovel]

Merriam Webster's

I. intransitive verb (cringed; cringing) Etymology: Middle English crengen; akin to Old English cringan to yield, Middle High German krank weak Date: 13th century 1. to draw in or contract one's muscles involuntarily (as from cold or pain) 2. to shrink in fear or servility 3. to behave in an excessively humble or servile way 4. to recoil in distaste <Americans cringed…at the use of a term now regarded as a slur — William Safire> Synonyms: see fawn • cringer noun II. noun Date: 1597 a cringing act; specifically a servile bow

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v.intr. 1 shrink back in fear or apprehension; cower. 2 (often foll. by to) behave obsequiously. --n. the act or an instance of cringing. Derivatives: cringer n. Etymology: ME crenge, crenche, OE cringan, crincan: see CRANK(1)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Cringe Cringe (kr?nj), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Crnged (kr?njd); p. pr. & vb. n. Cringing.] [As. crincgang, cringan, crincan, to jield, fall; akin to E. crank.] To draw one's self together as in fear or servility; to bend or crouch with base humility; to wince; hence; to make court in a degrading manner; to fawn. When 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. --Bunyan. Sly hypocrite, . . . who more than thou Once fawned and cringed, and servilely adored Heaven's awful monarch? --Milton. Flatterers . . . are always bowing and cringing. --Arbuthnot.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Cringe Cringe, v. t. To contract; to draw together; to cause to shrink or wrinkle; to distort. [Obs.] Till like a boy you see him cringe his face, And whine aloud for mercy. --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Cringe Cringe, n. Servile civility; fawning; a shrinking or bowing, as in fear or servility. ``With cringe and shrug, and bow obsequious.'' --Cowper.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(cringes, cringing, cringed) If you cringe at something, you feel embarrassed or disgusted, and perhaps show this feeling in your expression or by making a slight movement. Molly had cringed when Ann started picking up the guitar... Chris had cringed at the thought of using her own family for publicity... I cringed in horror. = recoil VERB: V, V at n, V in n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. n. Crouch, fawn, truckle, sneak, stoop, bend the knee.

Moby Thesaurus

apple-polish, avoid, bend, bend the knee, bend the neck, bend to, blench, blink, bootlick, bow, bow and scrape, bow down, bow to, brown-nose, cower, crawl, creep, cringe to, croodle, crouch, crouch before, curtsy, defer, do homage, do obeisance, dodge, draw back, draw in, duck, eat dirt, evade, fade, fall back, fawn, flatter, flinch, funk, genuflect, get down, grovel, hang back, hunch, hunch down, jib, kneel, kneel to, knuckle to, kowtow, lick the dust, lickspittle, pull back, pull in, pull out, quail, quiver, recoil, reel back, retract, retreat, scrouch down, sheer off, shrink, shrink back, shy, sidestep, skulk, slaver, slink, sneak, squat, start aside, start back, stoop, swerve, toadeat, toady, tremble, truckle, truckle to, turn aside, wallow, weasel, weasel out, welter, wince, withdraw