From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishflinchflinch /flɪntʃ/ (also flinch away) verb [intransitive] 1 BACK/BACKWARDSto move your face or body away from someone or something because you are in pain, frightened, or upsetflinch at She flinched at the touch of his hand.flinch from The boy flinched away from him.2 to feel embarrassed or upsetflinch at Jo flinched at her sister’s insensitivity.3 → not flinch from (doing) something → unflinching→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
flinch• As our right door gunner opened up with the machine gun, I tried not to flinch.• Her obligations stared her in the face, but she did not flinch!• He flinches as if she were a snake.• Everyone flinched as shells exploded all around us.• Nell flinched, but stood her ground.• While the price will make you flinch, in the end the lightbulbs save you money.• I laugh appreciatively at his sarcasm, and I never flinch, outwardly at least, at his slams.• When he saw him he flinched slightly.Origin flinch (1500-1600) Old French flenchir “to turn aside” 