cringe

«cringe» in Mova's school dictionary: To feel very embarrassed or uncomfortable about… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 3 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (cringe, cringes, cringed, cringing); noun (a cringe); adjective (slang: cringe, cringey/cringy)

meaning for a pupil

1) To feel very embarrassed or uncomfortable about something, often pulling a face or wanting to hide. tree →

2) To move back or bend your body away from something because you are afraid or disgusted. tree →

3) (slang) Embarrassing or awkward, as in «That video is so cringe.» tree →

4) (noun) The feeling or act of cringing: «a cringe of embarrassment». tree →

sense in the lessons

In everyday life children say «cringe» or «cringey» about awkward videos, dad jokes or parents dancing. In stories it tells the reader a character is embarrassed or scared. Phrases: «make someone cringe», «cringe with embarrassment», «cringe at», «so cringe», «cringe-worthy», «the cultural cringe» (Australia, feeling your own culture is not as good).

examples

• I cringe every time I hear my old recorder playing. tree →
• The dog cringed when the thunder boomed. tree →
• Dad's dancing at the wedding made us all cringe. tree →
• (slang) Ugh, that advert is so cringe. tree →
• (slang) My old photos are well cringey. tree →
• She cringed at the sight of the spider. tree →
• It was a cringe-worthy moment when he forgot his lines. tree →
• He cringed away from the angry goose. tree →
• She was far too pretty to cringe in this way, but Peter thought it his due, and he would answer condescendingly, “It is good. tree →

note

Past form «cringed», -ing form «cringing» (drop the e). Using «cringe» as an adjective («so cringe») is slang, fine with friends but not in a formal essay; write «embarrassing» there. Spelled «cringey» or «cringy».

In the corpora

• "dǎ léi le" means "it's thundering"; in slang "léi rén" means shocking or cringe.
• "Sick" meaning great became common in the 1980s and 1990s; "cringe" means embarrassing.
• Mortified means extremely embarrassed; "cringe" is slang for that squirming feeling.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «cringe» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.