winced

Winced is the past tense of the verb wince. It describes a small involuntary grimace or bodily recoil in response to pain, distress, or an unpleasant stimulus. The movement is typically facial—such as tightening the eyes, curling the mouth, or tilting the head away—and may accompany a verbal reaction or a sharper sensation, though it can occur without sound.

Origin and usage: The word has Germanic roots and is cognate with related terms in other languages that express flinching or shrinking away from something disagreeable. In English, wince is used in both literal contexts (painful touch, medical procedures) and figurative ones (anticipation of bad news, awkward or distressing situations). It commonly appears with prepositions such as at or from, as in “winced at the sting” or “winced from the memory.”

Grammatical notes: It is a regular verb with forms including winces (present), winced (past and past participle), and wincing (present participle). Common synonyms include flinch, recoil, grimace, and cringe. The term is frequently employed in narrative writing to convey a character’s restrained or minimal reaction to an unpleasant stimulus.