cringeverb/ˈkɹɪnd͡ʒ/

• 1

  To cower, flinch, recoil, shrink, or tense, as in disgust, embarrassment, or fear.

  • He cringed as the bird collided with the window.
  • [W]hen they were come up to the place where the Lions were, the Boys that went before, were glad to cringe behind, for they were afraid of the Lions, ſo they ſtept back and went behind.
• 2

  To experience an inward feeling of disgust, embarrassment, or fear; (by extension) to feel very embarrassed.

  • I'm cringing watching this easily Blizzard- or Square Enix-worthy new trailer for Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls Online. Not because it's bad — it's a deftly rendered slice of CGI. But it must have cost a fortune. It makes me want to say "Spend the money on knocking the game out of the park, please, not the frippery, Bethesda." But oh what frippery.
• 3

  To bow or crouch in servility.

  • [I]f they keepe their wits, yet they are accompted fooles by reaſon of their carriage, becauſe they cannot ride a horſe, which euery Clowne can doe; ſalute and court a Gentlewoman, carue at table, cringe and make congies, which euery common ſwaſher can doe, [...]
  • And thou ſly hypocrite, who now wouldſt ſeem / Patron of liberty, who more then thou / Once fawn'd,and cring'd, and ſervilly ador'd / Heav'ns awful Monarch?
• 4

  To act in an obsequious or servile manner.

  • Here the beggar accoſts me; had I appeared as himſelf, he had aſked nothing: but now he uncovers, he cringeth, he cries for relief.
  • Their [the clergy's] chief business, during a quarter of a century, had been to teach the people to cringe and the prince to domineer.
• 5

  obsoleteTo draw (a body part) close to the body; also, to distort or wrinkle (the face, etc.).

  • [H]ow thriue you, howe periſh you, and they cringing in their neckes, like rattes, ſmothered in the holde, [...]
  • Whip him Fellowes, / Till like a Boy you ſee him crindge his face, / And whine aloud for mercy.
• 6

  obsoleteTo bow or crouch to (someone) in servility; to escort (someone) in a cringing manner.

cringenoun/ˈkɹɪnd͡ʒ/

• 1

  A gesture or posture of cringing (recoiling or shrinking).

  • He glanced with a cringe at the mess on his desk.
• 2

  An act or disposition of servile obeisance.

• 3

  dialectalA crick (“painful muscular cramp or spasm of some part of the body”).

• 4

  derogatoryslangThings, particularly online content, which would cause an onlooker to cringe from secondhand embarrassment.

  • Bro... you just posted cringe
  • There was so much cringe in that episode!

cringeadj/ˈkɹɪnd͡ʒ/

• 1

  derogatoryslangSynonym of cringeworthy or uncool, inducing awkwardness or secondhand embarrassment.

  • Brands trying to appeal to young people with memes is the most cringe thing ever.
  • Last week, while giving a commencement speech to New York University graduates, pop star Taylor Swift offered a timely bit of advice: “No matter how hard you try to avoid being cringe, you will look back on your life and cringe retrospectively. Cringe is unavoidable over a lifetime.”

cringeintj/ˈkɹɪnd͡ʒ/

• 1

  derogatoryslangStated in response to something cringeworthy.