How to Use cringe in a Sentence

cringe

1 of 2 verb

• The dog cringed at the noise.
• Just the thought of eating broccoli makes me cringe.
• I always cringe when I hear that song.
• This truck has specifications!—hardware that'll make fast cars cringe.
  — Patrick Bedard, Car and Driver, 29 May 2020
• Locals of the Far North cringed when tourists pulled out their lighters.
  — Tom Stienstra, SFChronicle.com, 7 June 2019
• There’s all these funny, cringe moments of me on the show.
  — Katcy Stephan, Variety, 9 Nov. 2022
• The temptation is to look away, to move on, to cringe and avert your gaze.
  — Susan B. Glasser, The New Yorker, 3 Dec. 2020
• A lot of opera singers cringe at the idea, Holiday said.
  — Catherine Womack, Los Angeles Times, 30 Nov. 2020
• Some folks who like wolves cringe at the idea of wolves being trapped or shot.
  — Ben Long, Outdoor Life, 6 Mar. 2020
• No one wants to cringe at their color in the mirror, so don't let that be you.
  — Maya Allen, Marie Claire, 10 Apr. 2020
• Workplaces are filled with people who cringe at the word.
  — The Enquirer, 2 Mar. 2023
• That’s why part of me wants to celebrate this moment, and part of me wants to cringe.
  — Joseph Goodman | [e-mail], al, 1 Sep. 2021
• These two teams, as much as their fanbases may cringe at the mere thought, are a lot alike.
  — Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY, 7 Oct. 2021
• But there must be a part of the players, as with Barkley, that cringed while thrashing Thailand.
  — Dave Hyde, sun-sentinel.com, 12 June 2019
• But there’s no reason to cringe any longer when the camera pans to the Dallas sideline.
  — Dallas News, 3 Oct. 2022
• Yet what is cringe but the beginning of self-knowledge?
  — Julian Lucas, The New Yorker, 8 Jan. 2024
• McCord wasn't the day's first star to make followers cringe amid the crisis.
  — Brendan Morrow, The Week, 24 Feb. 2022
• There are moments when viewers might not know whether to laugh or cringe.
  — Chris Kornelis, New York Times, 31 July 2023
• No extended gameplay reveals that cringe out with comms from Chad and the rest of the QA team.
  — Joshua Khan, Wired, 15 Apr. 2021
• The result was an awkward Frankenstein of tone and rhythm that could make the corniest dad cringe.
  — Caleb Madison, The Atlantic, 28 Oct. 2023
• There are myriad reasons why this would be, as the kids say, cringe.
  — Brendan Menapace, Spin, 4 Oct. 2023
• The other Today hosts cringed, but Siri just took it in stride, cracking jokes and prepping the meal.
  — Marie Milano, Country Living, 16 June 2019
• And not just because of the way Heard was pilloried and mocked in a fashion that would make Jay Leno cringe.
  — Meredith Blake, Los Angeles Times, 3 June 2022
• At one point Daly called in his 11-year-old son to get the back of his head, as Hoda Kotb watched (and cringed) on the other end of the broadcast.
  — Kelsey Hurwitz, Woman's Day, 8 Apr. 2020
• And those weren’t the only comments that made some of his associates cringe.
  — Kim Masters, The Hollywood Reporter, 16 Oct. 2023
• Even some fans have cringed at the more explicit moments.
  — Julie Turkewitz, New York Times, 22 Aug. 2019
• And maybe this is all making fans in Indiana cringe a bit.
  — Stefan Krajisnik, The Indianapolis Star, 20 Mar. 2021
• Part of me cringes at optimism, at the word hope, which is fraught with history.
  — Hazlitt, 15 Sep. 2022
• Viewers will cringe while watching the Pacers make their way off the court as fans hurl bottles, and even a chair, at them.
  — Jemele Hill, The Atlantic, 5 June 2019
• For film buffs who cringe at the sight of so many sequels and remakes, Robbins says the quality is there.
  — J. Clara Chan, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 Dec. 2023

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cringe

2 of 2 noun

• We’ve been treated to the heartfelt and the funny, as well as the bizarre and the cringe-worthy.
  — Michael Ordoña, Los Angeles Times, 10 Sep. 2021
• But isn’t there some joy to be found in the collective cringe?
  — Smriti Mundhra, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Aug. 2023
• Two of the five wins came against Utah and Arizona of the Pac-12, though, no matter the latter’s cringe-worthy slide.
  — San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 Oct. 2021
• That did not mute the offense for a cringe-worthy stretch against two of baseball’s worst.
  — San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Aug. 2021
• Some of the puff pieces Chafkin digs up are cringe-worthy in retrospect.
  — Moira Weigel, The New Republic, 20 Dec. 2021
• There is nothing so cringe as seeing an adult who does not work there roam the halls of a high school.
  — Cydney Lee, Vulture, 5 Aug. 2021
• Revisit with us the most memorable moments of pop culture in 2022 – the good, the bad and the cringe-y.
  — Leah Asmelash, CNN, 29 Dec. 2022
• But if cringe killed viral challenges, then what went wrong in 2020?
  — Kaitlyn Tiffany, The Atlantic, 24 May 2022
• No, because all these stories are true, even the most cringe-worthy ones.
  — Chris Gardner, The Hollywood Reporter, 30 July 2022
• Was that cringe moment of Tanya leaving the sunglasses behind in the script?
  — Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 15 Aug. 2022
• The film has spawned a slew of sequels, some successful, some cringe-worthy.
  — Amy MacKelden, Harper's BAZAAR, 25 Aug. 2022
• The Times dipped into the book to find out what’s making some relatives and friends of Bourdain cringe.
  — Los Angeles Times, 7 Oct. 2022
• Mainstream pop culture is unashamedly cringe and has been for a long time.
  — Daisy Jones, Vogue, 26 Jan. 2023
• That wasn't the only cringe-worthy reveal in the The Guardian's report, however.
  — Marie Claire, 6 June 2021
• The cringe of a bad date is something nearly everyone can agree on.
  — oregonlive, 2 Nov. 2022
• The sample is cringe-worthy enough on its own but becomes even more painful in context.
  — Jeff Ihaza, Rolling Stone, 3 Mar. 2022
• Some of us are great at building the ideal snowman, while some of us have snowball rolling skills that make Frosty cringe.
  — Chaise Sanders, Country Living, 2 Sep. 2021
• The tradition began back in the 1800s, and its origins are a little cringe-worthy.
  — Emily Vanschmus, Better Homes & Gardens, 19 July 2021
• Never forget the cringe felt ’round the world when, in 2021, Trevor Noah ambushed her to announce she’d just tied a Grammy record.
  — Lindsay Zoladz, New York Times, 15 Nov. 2022
• The barely-there premise -- 13 blokes sit around an Irish pub and sing songs -- is fraught with cringe-worthy potential.
  — cleveland, 12 June 2021
• But with such a long history, there's bound to be some cringe-worthy moments.
  — Janaya Wecker, Good Housekeeping, 14 Nov. 2022
• Tennessee, for a bit of cringe-worthy context, led the country at 525.5 per game.
  — San Diego Union-Tribune, 9 Jan. 2023
• Every cringe and wince from the disgusted press corps was his reward.
  — David Reamer, Anchorage Daily News, 2 Jan. 2023
• That’s not to say that last week’s episode didn’t include some cringe-tacular moments.
  — oregonlive, 24 Feb. 2022
• West might have assumed his behavior was the kind of cringe that verges on irresistible.
  — Washington Post, 16 Feb. 2022
• Method acting doesn't have to be cringe, according to Andrew Garfield.
  — Brendan Morrow, The Week, 23 Aug. 2022
• EJ Dickson and Brittany Spanos will explore what the vast corners of the rapidly growing app, from the serious to the cringe.
  — Rolling Stone, 22 Sep. 2021
• Many people can’t afford a sick day and cringe at losing income!
  — Teresa Ghilarducci, Forbes, 28 Dec. 2021
• The lack of terrain on opening weekend made for cringe-worthy optics.
  — Julie Jag, The Salt Lake Tribune, 15 Nov. 2022
• As always, the clan comes through with some mind-melting meta moments and high-quality cringe.
  — Vogue, 5 May 2022

Last Updated: 3 May 2024