The action of pulling back or showing discomfort; can also describe someone or something that is intensely embarrassing or shameful.
Present participle of cringe, from the same Middle English and Norse roots. As an adjective, it describes the quality of being worthy of making someone cringe.
Psychologists have noted that our ability to cringe at others' mistakes is actually linked to our own sense of social awareness—the more socially anxious you are, the more likely you are to feel that painful secondhand embarrassment, which is why 'cringe comedy' is so powerfully uncomfortable.
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