1
as in wincing
to draw back in fear, pain, or disgust
gruesome crime scene photos that made several jurors cringe
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in shrinking
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cringing
Verb
-
The staff member can be seen cowering down to fend off the attack and then turns and squares up to the irate passenger, who’s wearing a green colored top and army green pants.—
Michael Dorgan,
Fox News,
29 Nov. 2024 -
The trauma of war is ever-present in Honda's vision, which sees citizens fleeing for their lives and cowering in the rubble of their homes.—
Katie Rife,
EW.com,
18 Oct. 2024
Adjective
-
But while the Internet is torn over whether Carpenter’s submissive position on the Man’s Best Friend cover is funny or degrading, Whoopi Goldberg was more concerned with something else.—
Hannah Dailey,
Billboard,
12 June 2025
-
By contrast, a beta is supposedly weak and submissive—a follower.—
Elisabeth Sherman,
Parents,
7 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
If 28 Days Later presaged our post-9/11 paranoia and dread, 28 Years Later settles into the resigned gloom of our modern age, where everything is rubbish and only getting worse.—
Tim Grierson,
Vulture,
20 June 2025
-
His resigned air in the press conference felt like a man who had too much to juggle to cross over the line first.—
Tim Ellis,
Forbes.com,
3 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
Where Chelsea’s domestic overseers have been largely acquiescent to their accounting ingenuity, the same can’t be said abroad.—
Chris Weatherspoon,
New York Times,
21 Apr. 2025
-
Netanyahu appears convinced that his country’s security, along with his own political survival, depends on prolonging the military offensives and keeping both Gaza and Lebanon ungovernable, and therefore acquiescent.—
Mohanad Hage Ali,
Foreign Affairs,
1 Nov. 2024
Adjective
-
Chief Justice Roberts 'wrong,' courts should be 'deferential' The Trump administration's mass deportation efforts have repeatedly hit legal challenges.—
Victoria Moorwood,
The Enquirer,
2 July 2025
-
The appeals court applied the most deferential level of review, rational basis, and found that the requirement satisfied it.—
June 27,
CBS News,
27 June 2025
Adjective
-
The Senate Parliamentarian upheld a provision in the bill prohibiting Medicaid funds from being used to reimburse health clinics that also provide elective abortions, saying that the measure was compliant with the Byrd Rule, which restricts what can be included in a budget reconciliation bill.—
Samantha-Jo Roth,
The Washington Examiner,
1 July 2025
-
Today’s prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, has proven to be far less compliant.—
William Pesek,
Forbes.com,
27 June 2025
Adjective
-
These prices tend to reflect the higher yielding asking price versus the lower yielding bid price.—
Barnet Sherman,
Forbes,
31 Dec. 2024
-
Net interest income for the quarter was $72.2 million, compared to $62.2 million in the previous year, driven by growth in higher yielding loans, primarily from CCBX.—
Quartz Bot,
Quartz,
8 Nov. 2024
Adjective
-
Avoiding is unassertive and uncooperative, where an individual tends to give up on their own needs and acquiesce to the desires of others by disengaging from the situation altogether.—
Ellen Choi,
Forbes,
10 Mar. 2025
-
Accommodating, which is unassertive and cooperative, prioritizes the needs and preferences of others over one’s own in order to maintain harmony.—
Ellen Choi,
Forbes,
10 Mar. 2025
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Cite this Entry
“Cringing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cringing. Accessed 18 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share