Wiktionary:Word of the day/2021/January 29

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cringe v

(intransitive) To cower, flinch, recoil, shrink, or tense, as in disgust, embarrassment, or fear. (intransitive, figuratively) To experience an inward feeling of disgust, embarrassment, or fear; (by extension) to feel very embarrassed. (intransitive) To bow or crouch in servility. (transitive, obsolete) To draw (a body part) close to the body; also, to distort or wrinkle (the face, etc.). (transitive, obsolete) To bow or crouch to (someone) in servility; to escort (someone) in a cringing manner. cringe n (countable) A gesture or posture of cringing (recoiling or shrinking). (countable, figuratively) An act or disposition of servile obeisance. (countable, British, dialectal) A crick (“painful muscular cramp or spasm of some part of the body”). (uncountable, slang) Awkwardness or embarrassment which causes an onlooker to cringe; cringeworthiness. cringe adj (slang) Inducing awkwardness or embarrassment; cringemaking, cringeworthy, cringy.

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