Flinched

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To have suddenly drawn back or recoiled in reaction to an unexpected stimulus or distressing situation
2. Reacted by quickly pulling back due to a shock or discomfort
3. Made an involuntary sudden movement backward caused by surprise or distress

Etymology: The verb "flinch" began life as a physical movement of bending, not a flinch of the nerves. Its ancestor in Old French, "flenchir" or "flanchir", meant simply "to bend," and it was borrowed from a Frankish word traced back to a Germanic root meaning "to bend, twist, or flex." Its close relatives in German still carry that sense of turning: "lenken" today means "to steer" or to cause something to veer aside, a steering wheel's job in a single word. English took the word in the 16th century, and the sense of bending away from danger followed naturally. To flinch was to shrink or swerve aside from a blow, a pain, or an unpleasant prospect. The past form "flinched" simply adds the regular "-ed" ending to that same verb, so it carries the same history of a body turning away.

Synonyms: winced, cringed, shrank, recoiled, trembled

Antonyms: confronted, faced, met, braved