as in recoils
to draw back in fear, pain, or disgust
winced at the movie's graphic depiction of combat injuries
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Recent Examples of winces
Hazlitt, 8 Oct. 2025
Noun
Lina winces at the sound of Jaya munching on an apple, made worse by the static on the line.
—Hazlitt, 8 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for winces
Verb
-
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
Noun
-
There's room for laughs amid the tears and smiles amid the frowns.—
David Oliver,
USA Today,
7 Oct. 2025
-
Over the course of an hour, a virtuosic guitarist, a singer, and three dancers performed a program of mournful music and percussive dance, their faces set in serious frowns—an integral part of the performance.—
Fiona Mozley,
Travel + Leisure,
4 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Payton cringes at the mention of a sophomore slump, that defenses will figure out Nix.—
Troy Renck,
Denver Post,
6 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
Before this high achiever entered La Mer’s roster of offerings, its lip category consisted only of The Lip Balm, The Lip Polish, and The Lip Volumizer — all geared towards nourishing, restoring, and, in case of the latter, treating pouts to buildable color.—
Stacia Datskovska,
Footwear News,
6 Oct. 2025
-
While Shrek pouts about missing his solo ogre days, the dastardly Rumpelstiltskin takes advantage, offering him a contract to relive that romanticized time in his life — for a day.—
Skyler Trepel September 1,
EW.com,
1 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
The result has been a seemingly endless run of East Washington Street roadwork and traffic snarls from Alabama Street downtown to I-465.—
Ryan Murphy,
IndyStar,
25 Sep. 2025
-
There was talk of traffic snarls and strain on the power grid.—
Christopher Bonanos,
Curbed,
24 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
When the Fed cuts rates, the prime rate lowers, too, and the interest rate on that credit card debt is likely to follow within a billing cycle or two.—
Jessica Dickler,
CNBC,
16 Oct. 2025
-
For instance, close follow-up lowers hospital readmission rates and helps prevent adverse events.—
MSNBC Newsweek,
MSNBC Newsweek,
17 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Winces.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/winces. Accessed 28 Oct. 2025.
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