cringe
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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The results of a recent survey from wealth-management platform Betterment are making America’s financial advisers cringe.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026
Social media users were also split, with one viewer writing that Meghan was "warm, gracious and a delight to watch" while another called Prince Harry's cameo appearance "cringe".
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
It makes me cringe when I see comedians complaining about crowd work.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026
“To be cringe about it, the ’90s babydoll dress wasn’t designed for the male gaze,” says my friend Rachel, a keen observer of Gen X fashion then and now.
From Salon ● Jun. 12, 2026
The idea of walking back onto a dance floor alone makes me cringe.
From "X: A Novel" by Ilyasah Shabazz
"That was me in high school," she cringes.
From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2026
He drives a Ford pickup truck and cringes at needing a security detail, according to a person who knows him well.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026
The Orange County-based singer-songwriter visibly cringes a little, remembering how the piano-rock/emo-adjacent concept album chronicled a painful breakup with the woman who would eventually become his wife.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2025
I'm a loving person who cringes at everything associated with February 14, a fan of democracy who wants to hide every time July 4 rolls around and a very grateful individual who actively dislikes Thanksgiving.
From Salon ● Nov. 22, 2023
He cringes and adjusts his grip on her legs.
From "Divergent" by Veronica Roth
Like almost every parent, I cringed whenever my child or another player headed the ball.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
“Daddy’s home,” someone said, and a nation cringed.
From Slate ● Nov. 16, 2023
The lead lawyer for Google "visibly cringed" when the specific share of ad revenue sent to Apple was revealed, according to Bloomberg.
From BBC ● Nov. 14, 2023
At first I cringed in anger that the comment had been made, but then I cringed in shame, knowing that in some ways the comment described me.
From Salon ● May 16, 2001
I cringed at the mention of his name, even though we’d been broken up for weeks by then.
From "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
“If you’re cringing about writing one performance review, imagine your manager who has to write 15 of them,” says executive coach Sabina Nawaz.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 29, 2026
These lies are so dumb and easy to disprove that the onetime criminal defense attorney in me is cringing.
From Slate ● Aug. 16, 2024
Sherry plays A.J. with cringing self-loathing, inherited and desperate to be cast off.
From New York Times ● Mar. 14, 2024
Even some liberal economists are cringing a bit.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 4, 2023
There are off-hour trips to silent museums, where the boy tries and fails to walk through galleries as quietly as his instructor does, cringing when each footfall echoes.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
Vocabulary lists containing cringe
The Lingo of Body Language
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"Of Mice and Men"
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List 13
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