To cringe, as a verb, is to feel intense embarrassment. e.g. I always cringe when I remember my first job interview. I made such a fool of myself. To cringe is literally to pull away from something while trying to make your body smaller. This is usually done in fear. e.g. The dog cringed away from its angry master. This movement is also called a cringe. Cringe is much less formal than embarrassment. It's often used in online comments to show that we are embarrassed for another person.

Hmm, I guess the easiest answer is that you cringe when you're embarrassed for someone else, for example, when someone does something really stupid. On the other hand, you can be embarrassed because of something you said or did yourself. Also, cringe is a more informal word. It literally means to shrink back a little. Hope this helps :)

To cringe is to shy away from something. To get embarrassed is to be/feel ashamed.

Embarrassment is just a feeling state. Cringe usually involves a physical act....like something makes you so uncomfortable that you raise your shoulders, lower your head, etc. as well as feeling uncomfortable

The differences are: 1. "cringe" is a verb, "embarrassment" is a noun 2. "to cringe" describes the physical motion, especially of your face and head, in reaction to embarrassment or disgust. It does not describe a feeling. It does not mean "to express embarrassment". It only describes the physical reaction you have to these things. You can cringe for other reasons unrelated to being embarrassed.