Cringe

Definition: Cringe

Cringe

Verb

1. Draw back, as with fear.

2. Show submission or fear.

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "cringe" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1509. (references)

Synonyms: Cringe

Servility

Verb: cringe, bow, stoop, kneel, bend the knee; fall on one's knees, prostrate oneself; worship.

Submission

Obey; kneel to, bow to, pay homage to, cringe to, truckle to; bend the neck, bend the knee; kneel, fall on one's knees, bow submission, courtesy, curtsy, kowtow.

Crosswords: Cringe

If there was a law, they was workin' with maybe we could take it, but it ain't the law. They're workin' away our spirits, tryin' to make us cringe and crawl, takin' away our decency (The Grapes of Wrath; writing credit: John Steinbeck; Nunnally Johnson)

You must just look back at that and cringe. (Buffy the Vampire Slayer; writing credit: Doreen Spicer)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Music

• Cringe [IMPORT] (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Expression using "cringe": cringe to. Additional references.

Beginning with "cringe": cringe-making, cringe-worthy.

Ending with "cringe": cross-your-legs-and-cringe.

Albanian

temena (kotow, kowtow, servile bow), strukem (cower, crouch, hide, snuggle), servilizëm (assentation, obsequiousness, servility, subservience), përulje (debasement, humility, indignity, kotow, kowtow, mortification, subservience), përulem (abase oneself, demean, demean oneself, derogate, descend, kotow, kowtow, truckle), mblidhem (assemble, bank, build up, collect, contract, convene, crowd, crowd together, curl, draw, duck, forgather, huddle, mass, meet, mob, pile up, reunite, roll by, roll up, shrink). (various references)

Arabic 

‏تملق (adulate, blandish, blarney, butter, butter up, cajole, cajolery, coax, coaxing, compliment, con, court, curry favor with, curry favour with, fawn, flatter, flattery, incense, ingratiate oneself, insinuation, kowtow, lick his boots, make, mawkish, oiliness, palaver, servilism, soap, soft soap, subservience, suck up to, sweet talk, taffy, toady, wheedle), ‏تقلص (contract, dwindle, retract, retraction, shrink, shrinkage, shrivel), ‏تذلل (cringing, draggle, droop, drooping, grovel, lick his boots, obsequiousness, subservience), ‏إنكمش (contract, cower, retract, seize, shrink), ‏إرتد (bounce, draw back, rebound, recant, recoil, reflex, regress, renegade, renounce, reverberate, shrink, withdraw). (various references)

Bulgarian 

раболепнича (jackal), подмилкване (cringing, palaver), подлизурствувам (fawn, suck up, toady, truckle). (various references)

Chinese 

卑躬屈節 (act servilely, bow and scrape). (various references)

Czech

choulit se (cower, huddle, nestle), poklonkovat, krèit se (cower, crouch), hrbit se (crouch, have a slouch, slouch, stoop). (various references)

Farsi 

چاپلوسانه فروتنی کردن , انقباض غیرارادی ماهیچه . (various references)

Finnish

nöyristellä (be servile, fawn upon, truckle), madella (crawl, creep). (various references)

French

courtoisie, s'humilier, se rétracter, se courtiser, reculer. (various references)

German

kriechen (crawl, creep, grovel, to crawl, to creep, to cringe, to truckle, toady, truckle). (various references)

Greek 

κολακεύω (adulate, blarney, bootlick, butter up, cajole, curry, fawn, fawn over, flatter, lick his boots, soft soap, suck up), έρπω (crawl, creep, grovel, sneak), μαζεύομαι (cluster, cower, crouch, cuddle, gather), υποκλίνομαι δουλικώσ, ζαρώνω (cockle, contract, cower, crimple, crouch, crumple, knit, pucker, ruck, rumple, shrink, shrivel, wimple, wrinkle), δουλική διαγωγή. (various references)

Hebrew 

לזחול (crawl, creep, worm), ל�"תכוץ (cower, crouch, shrink, twitch), ל�"רתע (back away, blench, boggle, draw back, flinch, recoil, refrain, retract, retreat, withdraw). (various references)

Hungarian

szervilizmus (servility), hajlongás (bowing and scraping). (various references)

Indonesian

ngeri (dire, ercy, thrill), merangkak (crawl, creep). (various references)

Italian

umiliarsi (grovel, stoop), strisciare (crawl, creep, drag, grovel, scrabble, scrape, seals, slink, slither, sneak, tiptoe), rannicchiarsi (crouch, snuggle, squat), farsi piccolo per la paura, essere servile (creep), acquattarsi. (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

縮み上がる (to cringe, to flinch, to wince). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

ちぢみあがる (to cringe, to flinch, to wince). (various references)

Manx

cruill (cowed person, cringe of person, curve), croobey (cringe of action, cringing, hump). (various references)

Pig Latin

ingecray.(various references)

Portuguese

aninhar-se com medo, adular servilmente (crouch). (various references)

Romanian

cãciuli (kowtow), se piti (hole), ploconire (kowtow, obsequiousness). (various references)

Russian 

съеживаться (cower, crumple), раболепствовать (kotow, kowtow, truckle), низкопоклонничать (bow and scrape). (various references)

Scottish

gìog. (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

savijati kičmu, puzati (crawl, grovel). (various references)

Spanish

encogerse (contract, flinch, shrink, shrivel up). (various references)

Swedish

svansa (fawn), krypa (crawl, creep, fawn, grovel, huddle, kotow, kowtow, trail). (various references)

Turkish

yaltaklanmak (adulate, beslaver, blandish, blarney, bow and scrape, court, curry favor with smb., fawn, grovel, hustle, lick smb.'s boots, play to, slaver, soap down, toady, truckle, wheedle), yalakalık yapmak, sinmek (crouch, duck, keep down, permeate, pervade), korkuyla eğilmek. (various references)

Ukrainian

раболіпствувати (kotow, sneak), раболіпство (application, servility), низькопоклонництво (obsequiousness, sycophancy), з'їжуватися. (various references)

Vietnamese 

sự quỵ luỵ (kotow, kowtow, subservience, subserviency), sự lu�"n cúi, sự khúm núm (compliance, obsequiousness), sự khép nép. (various references)

Welsh

cynffonna (fawn, toady), creinio (fall down, lie down, wallow), ffalsio (fawn). (various references)

Derivations

Words beginning with "cringe": cringed, cringer, cringers, cringes. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Cringe" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: acrange, brynge, carige, Carignou, caringer, carringe, cinqe, clinge, Craingeau, Creanga, creaunce, Creige, cridge, crige, crigle, criing, crine, cring, cringa, Cringely, cringeth, crunge, cryne, cryng, Eringen, Krengiel, kringle, ringe. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Direct Anagrams: cering.

-1 letter: genic, nicer, reign, renig.

-2 letters: cine, cire, gien, girn, grin, nice, rein, rice, ring.

-3 letters: cig, eng, erg, ern, gen, gie, gin, ice, ire, rec, reg, rei, rig, rin.

-4 letters: en, er, in, ne, re.

+1 letter: anergic, clinger, coreign, creping, crewing, cringed, cringer, cringes, cringle, generic, recking.

+2 letters: amercing, argentic, capering, catering, centring, cheering, clearing, clerking, clingers, clingier, coercing, cognizer, cohering, coreigns, cosigner, covering, cowering, creaking, creaming, creasing, creating, creeling, creeping, cresting, cringers, cringles, decrying, encoring, erecting, erogenic, eructing, euchring, generics, gentrice, germanic, gerontic, glycerin, grinches, ochering, orogenic, perching, piercing, reaching, reacting, reaginic, recaning, receding, reciting, recoding, recusing, reducing, refacing, relacing, rescuing, retching, ringneck, screwing, securing, synergic, ulcering, wrecking.