1
as in winces
to draw back in fear, pain, or disgust
gruesome crime scene photos that made several jurors cringe
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Recent Examples of cringes
Payton cringes at the mention of a sophomore slump, that defenses will figure out Nix.
—
Troy Renck, Denver Post, 6 Aug. 2025
Troy Renck, Denver Post, 6 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cringes
Verb
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Bingo momentarily flinches, and Atlas rolls onto his back in response.—
Lydia Patrick,
MSNBC Newsweek,
22 Aug. 2025
-
Months later, Anderson, 50, still avoids crowds, doesn’t go out after dark and flinches when the doorbell rings.—
USA Today,
USA Today,
7 Aug. 2025
Verb
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The Guthrie family cowers in obedient fear of its brooding patriarch (Peter Mullan).—
Samantha Bergeson,
IndieWire,
5 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Cringes.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cringes. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
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