Flinch

Definition: Flinch

Flinch

Noun

1. A reflex response to sudden pain.

Verb

1. Draw back, as with fear.

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

Date "flinch" was first used: 1579. (references)

Note: Flinch \Flinch\, intransitive verb [imperfect & past participle. Flinched; Flinching.]. (references)

Synonyms: Flinch

Avoidance

Shrink back; hang back, hold back, draw back; recoil; retire; (recede); flinch, blink, blench, shy, shirk, dodge, parry, make way for, give place to.

Cowardice

Verb: quail; (fear); be cowardly; Adjective:, be a coward; Noun: funk; cower,skulk, sneak; flinch, shy, fight shy, slink, turn tail; run away; (avoid); show, the white feather.

Fear

Hesitate; (be irresolute); falter, funk, cower, crouch; skulk; (cowardice); let " I dare not" wait upon "I would "; take fright, take alarm; start, wince, flinch, shy, shrink; fly; (avoid).

Tergiversation

Draw in one's horns, eat one's words; eat the leek, swallow the leek; swerve, flinch, back out of, retrace one's steps, think better of it; come back return to one's first love; turn over a new leaf; (repent).

Crosswords: Flinch

The hard part about playing chicken is knowin' when to flinch. (The Hunt for Red October; writing credit: Larry Ferguson)

Flinch (1994)

Books

• Flinch (reference)

  (more book examples)

  (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music

• Learning to Flinch (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

Nevertheless he did not flinch.

Expression using "flinch": flinch from doing smth.. Additional references.

Albanian

zmbrapsem (back away, recede, recoil, regress, wince), dridhem (blink, dither, dodder, flicker, give a start, pulsate, quake, quiver, shake, shiver, shudder, thrill, tremble, twiddle, twitch, vibrate, wabble, waver, wince, wobble, writhe). (various references)

Arabic 

‏حجم (bulk, dimension, extent, format, funk, gage, girth, magnitude, measure, measurement, proportion, refrain, size, volume), ‏جفل (boggle, break cover, shy, startle, wince), ‏إحجام, ‏إجفال (boggle, shy, startle, wince). (various references)

Bulgarian 

сепвам се (baulk, start), трепвам (blench, jerk, quail, start, twitch, wince), потрепквам (wince), потрепвам (flutter, quail, thrill, tremble, whiffle), плаша се (be timid, quail, scare, shy). (various references)

Chinese 

不避艱險 (make light of difficulties and dangers, shrink or flinch from no difficulty or danger). (various references)

Czech

ucuknout (wince), couvnout (balk, blench), škubnout (twitch, wrench, yank). (various references)

Finnish

sävähtää. (various references)

French

se dérober (flunk), reflux, reculer (flush), dérobement, dérobade. (various references)

German

zusammenfahren (collide, crash, jump, run over, start, wreck), zurückzucken (jerk, jerk back, recoil, start back), zurückweichen (back away, draw back, fall back, move back, recede, retreat, shrink back, shy away, stand back, subside, to flinch, withdraw), zucken (flash, jerk, quiver, shrug, tremor). (various references)

Greek 

υποχωρώ (ebb, give in, recede, retreat, subside), αποδειλιώ (cower), τραβιέμαι από τον πόνο, οπισθοχωρώ (back, blench, draw back, fall back, shrink), δειλιάζω (balk, be frightened, blench, doggle, quail, shrink). (various references)

Hebrew 

להרתע (back away, blench, boggle, cringe, draw back, recoil, refrain, retract, retreat, withdraw), נרתע. (various references)

Hungarian

meghökken (to be in a mist, to lose countenance), hátrál (to flinch, to give ground, to retreat). (various references)

Italian

tirarsi indietro (shrink, stand back), ritirarsi (drop out, ebb, go back on, neap, pull back, recede, retire, retreat, shrink, stand down, withdraw), indietreggiare (back, blench, draw back, go, go back, go backwards, hang back, recoil, rein back, retreat, shrink), cèdere (devolve, overtop, televise, to broadcast, transmit). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

縮み上がる (to cringe, to flinch, to wince), 二の足を踏む (to hesitate, to shy or flinch, to think twice). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

にのあしをふむ (to hesitate, to shy or flinch, to think twice), ちぢみあがる (to cringe, to flinch, to wince). (various references)

Norwegian

vike tilbake. (various references)

Pig Latin

inchflay.(various references)

Portuguese

vacilar (waver), titubear (blench, diddle, dodder, hesitate, nutate, quail, reel, stagger, toddle, totter, waver), retroceder (fall back, recede, regress, retreat, retrograde, retrogress, revert, run back, set back, shrink, subside), recuo (backlash, kick, retreat), recuar (backpedal, blench, boggle, crawfish, flunk, indent, kick, off, quail, recede, recoil, retire, retreat), perplexidade (perplexity), jogo de cartas (bridge, card game, lansquenet, nap, napoleon, ombre, patience), hesitar (hesitate, waver), hesitação (hesitation), esquivar-se (blench, flunk), esfolar (bark, desquamate, excoriate, flay, fleece, flench, flense, fret, gall, graze, milk, rase, raw, raze, scale, scalp, skin, strip), desistência (departure, nonsuit, quitclaim, renunciation, waiver), acovardar-se (lose courage). (various references)

Romanian

tresãri (give a start, jerk, shudder, start, thrill, throb, wince), se eschiva (dodge, hedge, side step, sneak away), se clinti (move), se înfiora (crawl, creep, flicker, shudder, startle). (various references)

Russian 

вздрагивать (jump, startle, wince). (various references)

Scottish

ath (next). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

ustuknuti (back away, blench, jib, lose ground, recede, recoil, shrink back, step back), izbeći (avoid, dodge, escape, eschew, evade), žacnuti (recoil). (various references)

Spanish

retroceder (go back, go backwards). (various references)

Swedish

rycka till (winch). (various references)

Thai

ผงะ, การผงะ. (various references)

Turkish

yüzmek (float, swim), sakınmak (abstain, avoid, be careful not to, be cautious, be wary of, be wary of doing smth., beg, beware, cradle, eschew, evade, flee from, forbear, hang back, keep clear of, refrain, shuffle, shun, shy, steer clear of, Stow), korkmak (be afraid, be afraid of, be appalled, be frightened, be scared of, dread, fear, funk, get a fright, get cold feet, have a fright, have cold feet, quail, scare, show the white feather, shy, sweat blood, take fright), kaçınmak (abstain, avoid, balk, baulk, beg, beware, chicken out, dodge, elude, eschew, evade, flee, flee from, forbear, funk, get out of, keep clear of, refrain, refuse, shirk, short circuit, shun, sidestep, spare, stand aloof, stand apart, stand aside, steer clear of, Stow), çekinmek (beware, boggle, chicken out, dread, fear, flee from, funk, get cold feet, hang back, have cold feet, hesitate, hold back, hold off, keep clear of, shrink, shun, shy, wince, withdraw). (various references)

Ukrainian

відступати (back, back down, backtrack, blench, crawfish, deviate, digress, draw back, draw off, drop back, ebb, fall back, give ground, go back, recede, retreat, retrograde, shy, stand away, stand back, walk backward), відступ (backdown, backing, diversion, retreat), здригатися (creep, jump, shudder, startle, wince), здригання (jim-jams, jump, wince). (various references)

flenchir. (various references)

Derivations

Words beginning with "flinch": flinched, flincher, flinchers, flinches, flinching. (additional references)

Words containing "flinch": unflinching, unflinchingly. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Flinch" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: fincho, flach, flech, Fleisch, flich, flinc, flinche, flinchy, flinck, Flink, flintch, floch, folinic, Fullich, Glynch. (additional references)

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-1 letter: filch, finch.

-2 letters: chin, flic, inch, lich.

-3 letters: chi, fil, fin, hic, hin, ich, lin, nil.

-4 letters: hi, if, in, li.

+2 letters: falchion, filching, flinched, flincher, flinches.

+3 letters: bullfinch, falchions, fleeching, flenching, fletching, flinchers, flinching, flitching, goldfinch.

+4 letters: candlefish, fetchingly, fletchings.

+5 letters: bullfinches, cliffhanger, flichtering, goldfinches, trichlorfon, unflinching.