cringeworthy

See also: cringe-worthy

English

Alternative forms

• cringe-worthy

Etymology

From cringe +‎ -worthy.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkɹɪndʒˌwɜːð.i/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkɹɪnd͡ʒˌwɝð.i/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

Adjective

cringeworthy (comparative more cringeworthy or cringeworthier, superlative most cringeworthy or cringeworthiest)

1. (colloquial) That causes one to cringe with embarrassment; embarrassing.
   • 2014 November 18, Gail Sullivan, “Oxford Dictionaries’ word of the year is ‘vape’”, in The Washington Post‎, Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 18 December 2014:

     The last word on words has spoken. Oxford Dictionaries chose “vape” as the word of the year. It was selected over cringeworthier choices such as “slacktivism” or “bae” — the latter a term of endearment that was a top contender for censorship in Time magazine’s “Which Word Should Be Banned in 2015?” poll.

   • 2017 February 5, Maura Judkis, Bethonie Butler, “The five worst Super Bowl commercials”, in The Washington Post‎, Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 6 February 2017:

     These ads aren’t as bad as some of the worst ads from previous years — let us not forget the gross GoDaddy commercials, or the Nationwide “Dead Kid” commercial of Super Bowls past — but they’re definitely the cringeworthiest of an already forgettable crop.

   • 2022 May 4, Stefanie Foster, “Great British Rail Sale failed!”, in RAIL, number 956, page 3:

     It also presented a golden opportunity for Transport Secretary Grant Shapps to wear silly outfits and produce yet another cringeworthy video, which attracted sharp criticism online.

Synonyms

• cringe
• cringy
• squirmworthy
• winceworthy

Derived terms

• cringeworthily
• cringeworthiness

Translations

that causes one to cringe

Armenian: քինջ (kʻinǰ) (slang) Azerbaijani: əttökən Bulgarian: криндж (krindž) Chinese: Mandarin: 令人尷尬的 / 令人尴尬的 (lìngrén gāngà de) Czech: hrozně nepříjemný m Danish: tåkrummende Dutch: tenenkrommend (nl), tenenkrullend (nl) Esperanto: hontinda, hontiga Finnish: kiusaannuttava, nolo (fi), myötähäpeää aiheuttava French: malaisant (fr), embarrassant (fr) Galician: please add this translation if you can German: peinlich (de), blamabel (de), beschämend (de), unangenehm (de), erschütternd (de), zum Fremdschämen, zum In-den-Boden-Versinken Greek: please add this translation if you can Hungarian: ciki (hu), kínos (hu) Icelandic: kjánahrollur, pínlegur Italian: imbarazzante (it) Japanese: 痛い (ja) (いたい, itai) (slang) Korean: 오글오글 (ko) (ogeurogeul) Latin: please add this translation if you can Mongolian: please add this translation if you can Norwegian: please add this translation if you can Plautdietsch: please add this translation if you can Polish: zawstydzający, żenujący (pl) Portuguese: please add this translation if you can Romanian: please add this translation if you can Russian: стрёмный (ru) (strjómnyj) Serbo-Croatian: please add this translation if you can Slovene: please add this translation if you can Spanish: de alipori, para morir de vergüenza, para morirse de vergüenza, de grima Welsh: please add this translation if you can

References

• “cringeworthy”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.