Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use wince in a sentence

22 example sentences · noun, verb

Wince means a sudden movement or gesture of shrinking away. Example: “A horse winces.”

Examples of wince by meaning

verbTo flinch as if in pain or distress.

  • It's absurd, but I feel like the Jackdaw of Rheims.” ¶ She winced and bowed her head.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC
  • Sir Oswald Feiling winced as he turned to go home.1935, Francis Beeding, “7/2”, in The Norwich Victims

verbTo kick or flounce when unsteady or impatient.

  • A horse winces.

More sentences with wince

  • Supporters of behaviorism claim that to be "in pain" is nothing more than the tendency to wince, yelp, scream "ouch!" and so on.From the entry behaviorism
  • The smoulder in his eyes dimmed, and he winced, half bending in agony.2016, K. M. Frontain, The Disposition of Ashes. From the entry smoulder
  • Winced and shifted some more—stabby nerve-ending pain out of nowhere, per usual.2003, Bruce Wagner, Still Holding, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 265. From the entry stabby
  • He slammed the door viciously, then winced, groaning, at the brain-stabbing noise.1999, Leonard Wolf, Blood Thirst: 100 Years of Vampire Fiction, page 183. From the entry brain-stabbing
  • “Tomorrow at first sun.” Not being much of a morning person, she winced internally.1997, Alan Dean Foster, Howling Stones, page 149. From the entry sun
  • After a miscarriage, Gertrude Thomas winced over pregnant black women slaving under the inhuman sun.1991, William W Freehling, The Road to Disunion: Volume I: Secessionists at Bay, 1776-1854. From the entry fairybook
  • He ran a hand up the side of his face and winced disapprovingly at the prickle.1978, Stephen King, chapter 7, in The Stand, page 57. From the entry hair up
  • It’s absurd, but I feel like the Jackdaw of Rheims.” ¶ She winced and bowed her head.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXXVII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC…. From the entry excommunicate
  • A passing snort from an eventgoer made her wince.2014, Rachel Harris, Ophelia London, Kelley Vitollo, Hometown Love: A Bliss Bundle, →ISBN, page 1. From the entry eventgoer
  • I don't see why I should keep a dog and bark myself!” Sadie's voice was so shrill that Polly winced.2011, Margaret Kaine, Ribbon of Moonlight. From the entry keep a dog and bark oneself
  • Mitsuharu pressed a finger to his earbug, jumping channels until the hissing growl of the enemy flooded in, making him wince.2011, Thomas Harlan, Land of the Dead, page 349. From the entry earbug
  • Wincing, Chloe did as she was told.2011, Karen Doornebos, Definitely Not Mr. Darcy, →ISBN. From the entry lemon martini
  • "Bring us two Stollies," said Peabody, pronouncing the name of the drink in an unusual way that frankly made me wince.1996, Bruce Jay Friedman, A father's kisses. From the entry Stolly
  • He wrote Pap it’s the foulest bucket in the Navy—— But that don’t mean nothing,” he added quickly, seeing Willie wince.1951, Herman Wouk, “The Caine”, in The Caine Mutiny: A Novel of World War II, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, →OCLC, part II (The…. From the entry queer as a three-dollar bill
  • Nor did he wince or cringe to the blows.1917 April, Jack London, chapter VIII, in Jerry of the Islands, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC, page 115. From the entry cringe
  • Miss Cynthia winced, made two misstitches, but worked on.1901, John Trotwood Moore, A Summer Hymnal: A Romance of Tennessee, page 108. From the entry misstitch
  • What if my seatmate was a sadistic fatphobe who would lean on our shared armrest just to see me wince in pain as it dug into my hip?2002, BBW, Volume 22, Issues 3-4, page 56. From the entry fatphobe
  • If either of you two Romeos ever rattle the doorknob of my room at night again, you're apt to get a bullet through it." Jake winced.1961, Dallas McCord Reynolds, Black Man's Burden, Project Gutenberg EBook edition. From the entry sugar daddy
  • Certainly this was a bold proposal to an old warhorse like Ecuyer, and, like a true English bulldog, he voiced a reply which made the Indians wince.1909, Charles H. L. Johnston, Famous Indian Chiefs, Boston: L. C. Page & Company, page 188. From the entry warhorse

Meaning of wince

  1. noun A sudden movement or gesture of shrinking away.
  2. noun A reel used in dyeing, steeping, or washing cloth; a winch. It is placed over the division wall between two wince pits so as to allow the cloth to descend into either compartment at will.
  3. verb To flinch as if in pain or distress.

Full definition of wince

Questions about wince in a sentence

How do you use wince in a sentence?
Wince is used as a noun and verb. For example: “A horse winces.”
What is a short sentence with wince?
“A horse winces.”
What does wince mean?
Wince means a sudden movement or gesture of shrinking away.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: wince (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use wince in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/wince. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.