Cringe

The feeling of physical discomfort without something physical happening to your body, that is usually caused by: second-hand embarrassment, witnessing physical discomfort happening to someone or something else, opinions and acts that you disagree with on a fundamental level and so on.
Watching people get paper cuts makes me cringe.
The 69 jokes are cringe.
Watching that guy get rejected in front of the whole school made me cringe.
by Big_lad January 30, 2021
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Cringe

I was watching YouTube and I found a cringe compilation and it was 90% Tik-Tok memes
by Some guy on earth November 18, 2018
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Cringe

Brittney is the definition of cringe.”
“Why?”
“Because she subscribed to Jake Paul.”
by Thatwierdpersonnooneknows August 04, 2018
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Cringe

The face you make when you watch a 5-year old twerk on Musical.ly.
When I look myself in the mirror I cringe very hard because I am ugly af.
by Venny G December 11, 2016
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Cringe

Cringe comedy is a specific genre of comedy, where the intent is to make you uncomfortable rather than make you laugh.
Example of a cringe worthy individual: A fedora-wearing misanthrope who also happens to enjoy My Little Pony and always complains about being "forever alone". Sometimes, he carries fake swords and attaches fake furry tails to his pants and walks around in public pretending he is not human. He spends his days browsing 9Gag and talks about memes on his facebook page. He says "lol" out-loud. He is unemployed and lives in his mother's basement. He prides himself in his sense of humor, where his favorite "joke" involves screaming "D'OH!" in a Homer Simpson voice. He often incorporates the french word "Le" prior to nouns in order to make them funnier. For example, I went to le shopping mall and bought myself le fedora. He uses this word because he doesn't know how to be funny so he resorts to stale Reddit jokes.

The Cringe Channel (www.cringechannel.com) is a comedy site full of examples which perfectly exemplify this type of person
by Le Fedora XD June 03, 2013
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by bubblebubble September 07, 2016
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cringe

1. v. cringe - to recoil in embarrassment
2. n. cringe - an instance of recoiling in embarrassment

Modern usage stems from its popularity among uncreative Zoomers circa 2013 who continue employ it as a banal and inane pejorative in virtual discourse when they feel threatened by media, memes, or posts that 1. break convention as defined by their narrow social experience in an arbitrary microcosm of internet culture 2. exceed their puerile comprehension in complexity or length or 3. induce even the slightest sense of insecurity for which they cannot muster a lazy conditioned riposte.

In this regard, the word has come to mean "An expression of pious and empty derision toward another person's thoughts, actions, or beliefs that (without discussion) implies ones own beliefs are normative and therefore superior."
Example 1 - laziness is normative
Person 1: *posts comment exceeding 500 characters*
Person 2: *reads in entirety* "cringe, didn't read"

Example 2: intransigence is normative
Person 1: "I disagree with your opinion"
Person 2: "cringe"

Example 3: ones personal tastes are normative
Person 1: "I really enjoyed that movie"
Person 2: "ugh, cringe"
by CheatsaPizza March 04, 2021
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