1
as in winced
to draw back in fear, pain, or disgust
gruesome crime scene photos that made several jurors cringe
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Recent Examples of cringed
Host Jimmy Fallon visibly cringed in response.
—
Emlyn Travis, Entertainment Weekly, 9 Jan. 2026
You get cringed out when things are earnest or something, but then the music is a way to channel it.
—Bailey Richards, PEOPLE, 25 Nov. 2025
During a hospital stay, Roy’s enfeebled mother fixates on the caste and religious affiliations of the doctors treating her—the sort of thing that will be familiar to anyone who has cringed at a diminished elder’s unfiltered prejudices.
—Rebecca Mead, New Yorker, 3 Sep. 2025
Emlyn Travis, Entertainment Weekly, 9 Jan. 2026
You get cringed out when things are earnest or something, but then the music is a way to channel it.
—Bailey Richards, PEOPLE, 25 Nov. 2025
During a hospital stay, Roy’s enfeebled mother fixates on the caste and religious affiliations of the doctors treating her—the sort of thing that will be familiar to anyone who has cringed at a diminished elder’s unfiltered prejudices.
—Rebecca Mead, New Yorker, 3 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cringed
Verb
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But at 4-4 in that set, the 22-year-old Spaniard winced after stretching for a volley.—
Eduardo Tansley,
New York Times,
30 Jan. 2026
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The hard-drinking, hyper-sensitive Fitzgerald himself would have winced at any of the five adaptations of The Great Gatsby.—
Peter Bart,
Deadline,
22 Jan. 2026
Verb
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But as his show became a pop culture punchline and an enduring ratings force, Povich says the person closest to him never flinched.—
Dave Quinn,
PEOPLE,
28 Jan. 2026
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Adi flinched but passed it to him.—
Jonathan Miles,
Harpers Magazine,
27 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters Software stocks on Thursday slid deeper into an ongoing intense sell-off this year as investors recoiled from the sector on growing fears that artificial intelligence could upend many firms' business models.—
Yun Li,
CNBC,
29 Jan. 2026
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The citizenry has broadly recoiled; her killing, in addition to being a human tragedy, has been a public relations disaster for the administration.—
Michelle Goldberg,
Mercury News,
20 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Anyone living in one of the dozens of surrounding villages, such as Nazareth, who was not rounded up must have cowered in fear behind closed doors or hidden in the various underground cisterns and hewn chambers beneath the ancient houses and courtyards of the Jewish villages.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
30 Sep. 2025
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In one incident, a predator, confirmed by a state biologist to have been a wolf, attacked an elk on the front steps of a home in Sierra County as the college-age son of the owner cowered inside, alone and afraid amid the growls and thumps that were shaking the front door.—
Sacbee.com,
Sacbee.com,
18 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Cringed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cringed. Accessed 4 Feb. 2026.
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