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Wince vs Twinge - What's the difference?

wince | twinge |

As nouns the difference between wince and twinge

is that wince is a sudden movement or gesture of shrinking away while twinge is a pinch; a tweak; a twitch.

As verbs the difference between wince and twinge

is that wince is to flinch as if in pain or distress while twinge is to pull with a twitch; to pinch; to tweak.

wince

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A sudden movement or gesture of shrinking away.
  • A reel used in dyeing, steeping, or washing cloth; a winch. It is placed over the division wall between two wince pits so as to allow the cloth to descend into either compartment at will.

    • Verb

    (winc)
  • To flinch as if in pain or distress.
  • * (William Shakespeare)
    • I will not stir, nor wince , nor speak a word.
  • * , chapter=17
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=“Perhaps it is because I have been excommunicated. It's absurd, but I feel like the Jackdaw of Rheims.” ¶ She winced and bowed her head. Each time that he spoke flippantly of the Church he caused her pain.}}
  • * {{quote-book, year=1935, author=
    • , title=The Norwich Victims, chapter=7/2 citation , passage=The two Gordon setters came obediently to heel. Sir Oswald Feiling winced as he turned to go home. He had felt a warning twinge of lumbago.}}
  • To wash (cloth), dip it in dye, etc., with the use of a wince.
  • To kick or flounce when unsteady or impatient.

    • twinge

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A pinch; a tweak; a twitch.
  • A sudden sharp pain; a darting local pain of momentary continuance; as, a twinge in the arm or side.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1935, author=
    • , title=The Norwich Victims , chapter=7/2 citation , passage=The two Gordon setters came obediently to heel. Sir Oswald Feiling winced as he turned to go home. He had felt a warning twinge of lumbago.}}

    Verb

    (twing)
  • To pull with a twitch; to pinch; to tweak.
  • * Hudibras
    • When a man is past his sense, / There's no way to reduce him thence, / But twinging him by the ears or nose, / Or laying on of heavy blows.
  • To affect with a sharp, sudden pain; to torment with pinching or sharp pains.
  • * L'Estrange
    • The gnat twinged him [the lion] till he made him tear himself, and so mastered him.
  • To have a sudden, sharp, local pain, like a twitch; to suffer a keen, darting, or shooting pain; as, the side twinges.