as in flinches
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
Angel Saunders, PEOPLE, 31 Oct. 2025
Lina winces at the sound of Jaya munching on an apple, made worse by the static on the line.
—Hazlitt, 8 Oct. 2025
Verb
In a video of the incident, Tricia lets out a loud scream and winces as the champagne drips from her hair, into her eyes and onto her face.
—Angel Saunders, PEOPLE, 31 Oct. 2025
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
-
Sheinbaum quickly moves away and visibly flinches as the man attempts to put his arm around her.—
Ellie Cook,
MSNBC Newsweek,
6 Nov. 2025
-
Snakes must move incredibly quickly to sink their fangs into prey before the victim flinches.—
Laura Baisas,
Popular Science,
23 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Those surrounding the bride stood up and began clapping, their frowns shifting to wide smiles.—
Rachel Raposas,
PEOPLE,
5 Nov. 2025
-
If only humans kept their expressions to cartoonishly clear frowns and smiles.—
Matt Fuchs,
Time,
4 Nov. 2025
Verb
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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 15 Nov. 2025.
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