pinch

Plural: pinches

Noun

• a painful or straitened circumstance
  • "the pinch of the recession"
• an injury resulting from getting some body part squeezed
• a slight but appreciable amount
• a sudden unforeseen crisis (usually involving danger) that requires immediate action
• a small sharp bite or snip
• a squeeze with the fingers
• the act of apprehending (especially apprehending a criminal)
• The action of squeezing a small amount of a person's skin and flesh, making it hurt.
• A close compression of anything with the fingers.
• A small amount of powder or granules, such that the amount could be held between fingertip and thumb tip.
• An awkward situation of some kind (especially money or social) which is difficult to escape.
• A metal bar used as a lever for lifting weights, rolling wheels, etc.
• An organic herbal smoke additive.
• A magnetic compression of an electrically conducting filament.
• The narrow part connecting the two bulbs of an hourglass.
• An arrest.

Verb

Verb Forms: pinched, pinching, pinches

• To squeeze tightly between two surfaces or fingers.
• squeeze tightly between the fingers
  • "He pinched her behind"
• make ridges into by pinching together
• make off with belongings of others
• cut the top off
• irritate as if by a nip, pinch, or tear
  • "the pain is as if sharp points pinch your back"
• To squeeze a small amount of a person's skin and flesh, making it hurt.
• To squeeze between the thumb and forefinger.
• To squeeze between two objects.
• Of clothing, to be uncomfortably tight in specific spots.
• To steal, usually something inconsequential.
• To arrest or capture.
• To cut shoots or buds of a plant in order to shape the plant, or to improve its yield.
• To sail so close-hauled that the sails begin to flutter.
• To take hold; to grip, as a dog does.
• To be stingy or covetous; to live sparingly.
• To seize; to grip; to bite.
• To cramp; to straiten; to oppress; to starve.
• To move, as a railroad car, by prying the wheels with a pinch.
• To complain or find fault.

Examples

• He felt the PINCH of limited vowels on his Words With Friends rack.
• I gave the leather of the sofa a pinch, gauging the texture.
• Mix about four cups of white flour with a pinch of salt.
• Someone has pinched my handkerchief!
• The children were scolded for pinching each other.
• This shoe pinches my foot.
• to be pinched for money

Synonyms

abstract, apprehension, arrest, cabbage, catch, collar, crimp, emergency, exigency, filch, hint, hook, jot, lift, mite, nip, nobble, pilfer, purloin, snarf, sneak, soupcon, speck, squeeze, swipe, taking into custody, tinge, top, touch, tweak, tweet, twinge, twitch, vellicate, abduct, ace, apprehend, appropriate, ass in a sling, atom, aught, bag, bandit, bash and grab, beef, begripe, bellyache, bemoan, bind, bissel, bit, bitch, bleat, bone, boost, borrow, bucket of syrup, burglarize, burgle, bust, calvary, capture, carp, cheat, cheesepare, chore, chunter, commandeer, complain, confiscate, convert, cop, cozen, crab, crib, croak, cross, cross to bear, crowbar, crumb, cut it fine, dab, damn, dash, diddly, difficulty, dilemma, dire straits, doghouse, dot, drop, dump on, dusting, embezzle, fang, fix, fleck, fleece, flip, flog, flyspeck, frine, gaffle, get, gilravage, girn, give out, glimpse, glint, grain, grasp, gripe, grotch, grouch, grouse, grumble, grump, gruntle, half-inch, halfpennyworth, harp, heave, heist, hole, inch, inveigh, iota, jack, jam, jimmy, kettle of fish, kidnap, kipe, knock off, kvetch, kyper, latrate, lay hold of, liberate, lick, loot, make a stink, make off with, mill, misappropriate, moan, modicum, molecule, mooch, moonlight requisition, morceau, morsel, mote, murmur, mutter, nag, nail bar, nark, nick, nudzh, ooch, ordeal, ounce, own, particle, peculate, pennyworth, pickle, pickpocket, piece, pillage, pinch, pinch pennies, pirate, piss and moan, plight, plunder, poach, pocket, predicament, prig, quagmire, quandary, raid, rail, ransack, rape, reave, relieve, repine, ride, rip, rip off, rob, run off with, scantling, scent, scintilla, scooch, scrap, scruple, seize, semblance, shred, situation, skerrick, skimp, skoosh, skosh, sliver, smattering, smidge, smidgen, smidget, smidgy, smitch, smithereen, snag, snatch, sniggle, snitch, snivel, soupçon, spark, spatter, speckle, spot, spot of bother, sprinkle, sprinkling, steal, sticky situation, sticky wicket, strain, swindle, tad, take hold, thieve, tidbit, tidge, tight spot, tittle, toddick, trace, trifle, trouble, tuppence worth, walk off with, whiff, whine, whinge, whit

Anagrams of pinch