cringing

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.

“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

And I didn’t want to ruin that moment, so I was just stuck in a different room, laughing and cringing, all that stuff.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 2, 2024

Reading through these items, I confess, I had a difficult time not cringing.

From Slate • Dec. 1, 2023

Fortunately, the class had generated enough trust that we could express ourselves freely: cringing at some passages and laughing at others, agreeing on the book’s importance while allowing for divergent assessments of its literary merit.

From New York Times • Mar. 3, 2023

Above me the sky is bile-colored, and the sight of it fills me with anxiety, my body cringing away from it.

From "Divergent" by Veronica Roth