cringe

To cringe is to draw back or to move your face or body in order to shrink from danger or fear.

(verb)

An example of cringe is when you duck backwards because you are afraid you are going to get hit.

See cringe in Webster's New World College Dictionary

to draw back, bend, crouch, etc., as when afraid; shrink from something dangerous or painful
to act in a timid, servile manner; fawn

Origin: ME crengen (with nasalized vowel as in hinge), caus. < OE cringan, to fall (in battle): for IE base see cradle

noun

the act of cringing

Related Forms:

See cringe in American Heritage Dictionary 4

intransitive verb cringed cringed, cring·ing, cring·es

noun

An act or instance of cringing.

Origin:

Origin: Middle English crengen, to bend haughtily

Origin: , probably ultimately from Old English cringan, to give way

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