What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Cringe vs Grin - What's the difference?

cringe | grin |

As nouns the difference between cringe and grin

is that cringe is a posture or gesture of shrinking or recoiling while grin is .

As a verb cringe

is (dated|intransitive) to bow or crouch in servility.

cringe

English

Alternative forms

* (dialectal)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A posture or gesture of shrinking or recoiling.
    • He glanced with a cringe at the mess on his desk.
  • (dialect) A crick.

    • Verb

  • (dated) To bow or crouch in servility.
  • * Milton
    • Sly hypocrite, who more than thou / Once fawned and cringed , and servilely adored / Heaven's awful monarch?
  • * 1903 , ,
    • He heard the hateful clank of their chains; he felt them cringe and grovel, and there rose within him a protest and a prophecy.
  • * 1904 , ,
    • Leclere was bent on the coming of the day when Batard should wilt in spirit and cringe and whimper at his feet.
  • To shrink, tense or recoil, as in fear, disgust or embarrassment.
    • He cringed as the bird collided with the window.
  • * Bunyan
    • When they were come up to the place where the lions were, the boys that went before were glad to cringe behind, for they were afraid of the lions.
  • * 1917 , ,
    • But he made no whimper. Nor did he wince or cringe to the blows. He bored straight in, striving, without avoiding a blow, to beat and meet the blow with his teeth.
  • (obsolete) To contract; to draw together; to cause to shrink or wrinkle; to distort.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Till like a boy you see him cringe his face, / And whine aloud for mercy.

    Derived terms

    * cringeworthy

    See also

    * crouch * wince

    Anagrams

    *

    grin

    English

    Etymology 1

    Before 1000 CE - From (etyl) grinnen, from (etyl) grennian; compare to (etyl)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A smile in which the lips are parted to reveal the teeth.
  • * 1997, Linda Howard, Son of the Morning, Simon & Schuster, pages 364:
    • When the ceremony was finished a wide grin''' broke across his face, and it was that '''grin she saw, relieved and happy all at once.

    Verb

    (intransitive)
  • (lb) To smile, parting the lips so as to show the teeth.
  • :
  • *{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
    • , chapter=15 citation , passage=‘No,’ said Luke, grinning at her. ‘You're not dull enough! […] What about the kid's clothes? I don't suppose they were anything to write home about, but didn't you keep anything? A bootee or a bit of embroidery or anything at all?’}}
  • (lb) To express by grinning.
  • :
  • *(John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • *:Grinned horrible a ghastly smile.
  • *
  • *:"Mid-Lent, and the Enemy grins ," remarked Selwyn as he started for church with Nina and the children. Austin, knee-deep in a dozen Sunday supplements, refused to stir; poor little Eileen was now convalescent from grippe, but still unsteady on her legs; her maid had taken the grippe, and now moaned all day: "Mon dieu! Mon dieu! Che fais mourir! "
  • To show the teeth, like a snarling dog.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • *:The pangs of death do make him grin .
  • *
  • *:They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. And why else was he put away up there out of sight?—and so magnificent a brush as he had too.
    • Derived terms
    * fish-eating grin * pickin' and grinnin' * shit-eating grin

    See also

    * grimace * smile

    Etymology 2

    (etyl)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) A snare; a gin.
  • * Remedy of Love
    • Like a bird that hasteth to his grin .

    Anagrams

    * ----