CRINGE

What Does CRINGE Mean in a Text?

The Quick Answer

CRINGE means "Feeling of Embarrassment or Awkwardness."

More Observations...

The word CRINGE describes the sympathy or embarrassment a person feels when seeing or hearing someone make a spectacle of themself. Until the advent of social media, people behaving in a cringe-worthy manner usually did do in an unsuspecting way and their errors were soon forgotten. However, due to the voyeuristic nature of apps such as TikTok and Facebook, and the potential monetary value of anything that can gain enough attention, a whole "cringe culture" has now developed. Social media users have had huge success sharing compilations of inadvertent cringe-inducing moments, while some have even produced videos of themselves deliberately acting in inappropriate ways or performing terrible renditions of popular songs. (A phenomena so popular that it is now known as cringe pop.)

Try Not to Cringe Challenge

Image for CRINGE

When I write CRINGE, I mean this:

"Feeling of Embarrassment or Awkwardness"

Summary of Key Points

"Feeling of Embarrassment or Awkwardness" is, by far, the most common meaning for CRINGE when it is used in a text. (Bear in mind that it could have another meaning if used in a different context.)

CRINGE
Definition:	Feeling of Embarrassment or Awkwardness
Type:	Word
Guessability:	1: Easy to guess
Typical Users:	Adults and Teenagers

An Academic Look at CRINGE

CRINGE is a slang word. Slang refers to words, phrases and uses of language that are regarded as very informal and which are often restricted to a special context or a particular group of users.