flinch
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To make a sudden, involuntary movement in response to a stimulus.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
flinchIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈflɪntʃ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
intransitive
To make a sudden, involuntary movement in response to a (usually negative) stimulus; to cringe; to blench.
To dodge (a question), to avoid an unpleasant task or duty
To strip the blubber or skin from, as from a whale, seal, etc.
noun
A reflexive jerking away.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To make a sudden, involuntary movement in response to a (usually negative) stimulus; to cringe; to blench.
Used this way, flinch is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It comes across as direct, sometimes bluntly so.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Sudden and forceful
- Usage feel
- Blunt and forceful
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use flinch
- “She flinched when they showed the slaughtering of the calf.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.