Definition of 'flinch'
Word forms: 3rd person singular present tense flinches
, present participle flinching
, past tense, past participle flinched
1. verb [usu neg]
If you flinch, you make a small sudden movement, especially when something surprises you or hurts you.
2. verb
If you flinch from something unpleasant, you are unwilling to do it or think about it, or you avoid doing it.
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
British English pronunciation
American English pronunciation
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Word Frequency
flinch in British English 1
verb (intransitive)
Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Derived forms
flincher (ˈflincher) noun
flinchingly (ˈflinchingly)
adverb
Word origin
C16: from Old French flenchir; related to Middle High German lenken to bend, direct
Word Frequency
flinch in British English 2
verb
a variant of flense
Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Word Frequency
flinch in American English
noun
3.
an act of flinching
Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Copyright © 2010 by
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
Word origin
earlier also flench < OFr flenchir, to bend aside < Frank *hlankjan, akin to Ger lenken, OE hlencan, to twist, bend: see lankWord Frequency
flinch in American English 1
(flɪntʃ)
intransitive verb
2.
to shrink under pain; wince
noun
SYNONYMS 1. recoil, withdraw, blench.5.
an act of flinching
Most material © 2005, 1997, 1991 by Penguin Random House LLC. Modified entries © 2019
by Penguin Random House LLC and HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Derived forms
flincher noun
flinchingly
adverb
Word origin
[1555–65; perh. nasalized var. of dial. flitch to flit, shift one's position]Word Frequency
flinch in American English 2
(flɪntʃ)
transitive verb
Most material © 2005, 1997, 1991 by Penguin Random House LLC. Modified entries © 2019
by Penguin Random House LLC and HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Examples of 'flinch' in a sentence
flinch
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In other languages
flinch
British English: flinch
VERB /flɪntʃ/
If you flinch, you make a small sudden movement, especially when something surprises you or hurts you.
He stared back at him without flinching.
- American English: flinch /ˈflɪntʃ/
- Brazilian Portuguese: encolher-se
- Chinese: 畏缩
- European Spanish: encogerse
- French: tressaillir
- German: zusammenzucken
- Italian: ritirarsi
- Japanese: ひるむ
- Korean: 움찔하다
- European Portuguese: encolher-se
- Latin American Spanish: encogerse
- Thai: สะดุ้ง, ผงะ
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