CRINGED Synonyms: 42 Similar and Opposite Words

cringed

verb

past tense of cringe

as in winced

to draw back in fear, pain, or disgust gruesome crime scene photos that made several jurors cringe

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in flinched

to draw back or crouch down in fearful submission the puppy cringed when his master raised the rolled-up newspaper

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

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Recent Examples of cringed When the outfits hit social media Sunday morning, many Titans fans cringed. — Armando Salguero Outkick, FOXNews.com, 20 Sep. 2026 Mingione cringed when asked if any of his players had gotten hurt by a hit by pitch. — Mitch Light, New York Times, 22 May 2026 For a decade, viewers have cringed at Amanda Batula and Kyle Cooke’s rocky relationship, the dénouement of which is currently playing out on season ten of Summer House. — Rebecca Jennings, Vulture, 1 Apr. 2026 And the mother of Carter, a 5-year-old boy, cringed in fear when Carter (who was celebrating his birthday) was approached at a neighborhood bike park by a group of much older boys. — Chris John Amorosino, Hartford Courant, 26 Mar. 2026 The couple cringed at the attention. — Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Washington Post, 19 Mar. 2026 As Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe joined The View Thursday for an interview about his role in the new NBC comedy The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins, the superstar cringed when the show cued up a clip of one of his early auditions to play the boy wizard. — Joey Nolfi, Entertainment Weekly, 5 Mar. 2026 San Jose Jazz Executive Director Brendan Rawson worked on those early indexes as a researcher and cringed at seeing some of his early graphics work from the ’90s shown on the big screen. — Sal Pizarro, Mercury News, 28 Feb. 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

Recent Examples of Synonyms for cringed

Verb

Ohtani, who hasn’t pitched since July 3 due to lingering knee and biceps issues, winced in pain throughout his eight-pitch at-bat against reliever Riley O’Brien, seeming to strain himself with every muscle flex, let alone big-league hacks.

— Assistant Sports Editor, Los Angeles Times, 3 Sep. 2026
My husband walked into the room and winced as one of the women changed into a perfect re-creation of an American Girl–doll outfit (very theater kid, not his thing).

— Kaitlyn Tiffany, The Atlantic, 2 Aug. 2026

Definition of winced

Verb

The teen in the green sweatshirt, Williams, momentarily flinched from the gunshot.

— Meredith Colias-Pete, Chicago Tribune, 15 Aug. 2026
Sipp slightly flinched his left arm before throwing a pitch to Emmanuel Burriss, allowing Miguel Tejada to score and sending San Francisco to its fourth straight win.

— Assistant Sports Editor, Los Angeles Times, 25 June 2026

Definition of flinched

Verb

The energy measured in the LZ event indicates how much the xenon nucleus recoiled due to the potential interaction with the dark matter.

— Jacopo Prisco, CNN Money, 14 Sep. 2026
When councilman Steve Novick threatened to sue, the Blazers recoiled and became obstinate.

— Jason Quick, New York Times, 21 July 2026