pinched

pinched is the simple past and past participle of pinch.

Adjective

pinched (comparative more pinched, superlative most pinched)

Very thin, as if drawn together.
- Want of food was my chief trouble the first summer at my old master's. Oysters and clams would do very well, with an occasional supply of bread, but they soon failed in the absence of bread. I speak but the simple truth, when I say, I have often been so pinched with hunger, that I have fought with...1855, Frederick Douglass, chapter 3, in My Bondage and My Freedom. […], New York; Auburn, N.Y.: Miller, Orton & Mulligan […], →OCLC
- His thin, pinched mouth was nothing but a mark […]1897, Edwin Arlington Robinson, “Aaron Stark”, in Children of the Night
Tense and pale from cold, worry, or hunger.
Financially hurt or damaged.
Compressed.
- If your sport makes you prone to violent neck motions, you are at risk for a pinched nerve. A pinched nerve occurs when a cervical disc ruptures, and the jellylike material from inside the disc presses on a nerve.2010, Clifford D. Stark, Elizabeth Shimer Bowers, Living with Sports Injuries, →ISBN, page 40

pinch (third-person singular simple present pinches, present participle pinching, simple past and past participle pinched)

To squeeze a small amount of a person's skin and flesh, making it hurt.
- The children were scolded for pinching each other.
To squeeze between the thumb and forefinger.
- He took the plate in his hand, holding it between thumb and forefinger at one corner, letting it hang down. With the other hand he pinched it at the opposite corner, pressing thumb and forefinger together tightly.2014, Harlan Ellison, Paingod and Other Delusions, →ISBN
To squeeze between two objects.
- Since the resistance of the channel is inversely proportional to its width, the most resistive region is the one pinched between the gates where they come closest to each other.2012, Supriyo Bandyopadhyay, Physics of Nanostructured Solid State Devices, →ISBN, page 446
(intransitive) Of clothing, to be uncomfortably tight in specific spots.
- With their jock-straps pinching, they slouch to attention
  While queueing for sarnies at the office canteen.1972, “Thick As A Brick”, Ian Anderson (lyrics), performed by Jethro Tull
(slang, transitive) To steal, usually something inconsequential.
- Someone has pinched my handkerchief!
Synonyms:

crib, purloin, steal, abduct, abstract, appropriate, bag, bandit, bash and grab, bone
(slang, transitive) To arrest or capture.

Synonyms:

bust, nick, apprehend, begripe, capture, fang, grasp, get, gripe, lay hold of

comparative	more pinched
superlative	most pinched

What does pinched mean?: Pinched means very thin, as if drawn together.
What is pinched the simple past and past participle of?: Pinched is the simple past and past participle of pinch.
What part of speech is pinched?: Pinched is an adjective.

Adapted from Wiktionary: pinched (page history and authors); pinch (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “pinched.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pinched. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.