noun, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   An imaginary device that measures cringeworthiness (the extent to which something makes one cringe; that is, flinch or recoil with embarrassment). humorous, informal, sarcastic

   "My cringeometer went off the scale as I watched his excruciating performance."

Example

More examples

"My cringeometer went off the scale as I watched his excruciating performance."

Etymology

From cringe + -ometer (suffix forming the names of measuring devices), possibly modelled after odometer, speedometer, etc.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.