intransitive verb. 1 : to recoil in distaste Americans cringed … at the use of a term now regarded as a slur— William Safire. 2 : to shrink in fear or servility The terrified animal cringed in the corner. 3 : to behave in an excessively humble or servile way beggars cringing to tourists for money.
Hereof, how do you use cringe?
By the Grey God’s cringe , it could only be one person. Sarah wore a pained expression that caused Jackson to cringe . Instead, she trotted down the gravel driveway, each crunching step making her cringe .
Then, what is an example of cringe?
To cringe is to draw back or to move your face or body in order to shrink from danger or fear. An example of cringe is when you duck backwards because you are afraid you are going to get hit.
What is cringe and based?
On one side, cringe: something that you find icky, uncomfortable, disagreeable, annoying, cringey. On the other, based: simply the opposite of cringe. These two words cannot exist at once. They exist in the absence of the other, in order to displace the other. For example, I could say that the Toike Oike is cringe.
Where can I use cringe?
If you cringe at something, you feel embarrassed or disgusted, and perhaps show this feeling in your expression or by making a slight movement.
- Molly had cringed when Ann started picking up the guitar. [ VERB]
- Chris had cringed at the thought of using her own family for publicity. [ VERB + at]
- I cringed in horror. [
Why do we cringe?
“Our facial features involuntarily contract, our eyes half close and our head moves away or to the side.” Dr Ellen explains that when we cringe at someone else’s behaviour (or even our own past behaviour) it’s usually because it’s something we find “pathetic, or stupid, or deplorable”.