pinch
[verb]
Synonyms:
- squeeze, compress, grasp, nip, press
- hurt, cramp, crush, pain
- steal, filch, knock off (slang), lift (informal), nick (slang, chiefly Brit.), pilfer, purloin, snaffle (Brit. informal), swipe (slang)
[noun]
Synonyms:
- squeeze, nip
- dash, bit, jot, mite, soupçon, speck
- hardship, crisis, difficulty, emergency, necessity, plight, predicament, strait

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English Thesaurus: hurt, ache, throb, sting, smart, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

I. pinch¹ /pɪntʃ/ verb
[Date: 1200-1300; Origin: From an unrecorded Old North French pinchier]

1. [transitive] to press a part of someone’s skin very tightly between your finger and thumb, especially so that it hurts:
We have to stop her pinching her baby brother.
He pinched her cheek.

2. [transitive] British English informal to steal something, especially something small or not very valuable:
Someone’s pinched my coat!

3. [transitive] to press something between your finger and thumb:
Pinch the edges of the pastry together to seal it.

4. [intransitive and transitive] if something you are wearing pinches you, it presses painfully on part of your body, because it is too tight:
Her new shoes were pinching.

5. somebody has to pinch themselves used when a situation is so surprising that the person involved needs to make sure that they are not imagining it:
Sometimes she had to pinch herself to make sure it was not all a dream.

6. [transitive usually passive] British English old-fashioned to arrest someone
pinch something ↔ out phrasal verb
to remove a small part of a plant with your fingers:
Pinch out any side shoots to make the plant grow upwards.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

II. pinch² noun [countable]

1. pinch of salt/pepper etc a small amount of salt, pepper etc that you can hold between your finger and thumb:
Add a pinch of salt to taste.

2. when you press someone’s skin between your finger and thumb:
She gave him a playful pinch.

3. at a pinch British English, in a pinch American English used to say that you could do something if necessary in a difficult or urgent situation:
There’s space for three people. Four at a pinch.
If you’re in a pinch, I’m sure they’d look after Jenny for a while.

4. take something with a pinch of salt used to say that you should not always completely believe what a particular person says:
You have to take what he says with a pinch of salt.

5. feel the pinch to have financial difficulties, especially because you are not making as much money as you used to make:
Local stores and businesses are beginning to feel the pinch.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

pinch
verb
I. take hold of sth between your thumb and finger
ADV. firmly | gently | sharply | playfully | together Apply pressure to the nose by pinching the nostrils firmly together.
PREP. between He pinched the leaf between his thumb and forefinger.
on He pinched me sharply on the arm.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

pinch
II. be too tight
ADV. badly My shoes were pinching badly.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

hurt if part of your body hurts, it feels painful:
My chest hurts when I cough.
ache to hurt with a continuous pain:
I’d been walking all day and my legs were really aching.
throb to feel a bad pain that comes and goes again in a regular and continuous way:
Lou had a terrible headache and his whole head seemed to be throbbing.
sting to feel a sharp pain, or to make someone feel this, especially in your eyes, throat, or skin:
My throat stings every time I swallow.
This injection may sting a little.
smart to hurt with a sudden sharp pain – used especially about your eyes, or your skin where something has hit you:
Her eyes were smarting from the thick smoke.
Jackson’s face was still smarting from the punch.
burn to feel very hot and painful or uncomfortable:
Be careful because this chemical will make your skin burn.
His eyes were burning because of the gas.
pinch if something you are wearing pinches you, it is too tight and presses painfully on your skin:
The shirt was a bit too small and it was pinching my neck.
something is killing me spoken informal used when something feels very painful:
My legs are killing me.
These shoes are killing me.
a bad back/leg/arm etc if you have a bad back/leg/arm etc, it feels painful:
He’s off work with a bad back.
pain noun [uncountable and countable] the feeling when part of your body hurts:
A broken leg can cause a lot of pain.
He felt a sharp pain in his chest.
twinge noun [countable] a sudden slight pain that comes and then disappears quickly:
When I bent down I felt a twinge in my back.
discomfort noun [uncountable] formal an uncomfortable feeling in your body, or a slight pain:
The procedure takes five minutes and only causes slight discomfort.
agony noun [uncountable] a feeling of great pain, or a situation in which you feel a lot of pain:
the agony of childbirth
I was in agony by the time I got to the hospital.
It was agony (=very painful)getting up out of bed.
suffering noun [uncountable] continuous physical or mental pain, which makes someone very unhappy:
I just wanted someone to put an end to my suffering.
the suffering of the earthquake victims

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

hurt to damage part of your body, or someone else’s body:
She slipped on the ice and hurt herself badly.
Be careful you don’t hurt anyone with that knife.
injure to hurt yourself quite severely, or to be hurt in an accident or fighting:
One of our players has injured his leg, and will be out of the game for weeks.
Four people have been seriously injured on the Arizona highway.
wound to deliberately hurt someone using a weapon such as a knife or gun:
The gunmen shot and killed twelve people and wounded three others.
maim /meɪm/ [usually passive] to hurt someone very severely, especially so that they lose an arm, leg etc, often as the result of an explosion:
In countries where there are landmines, people are killed and maimed daily.
break to hurt a part of your body by breaking a bone in it:
The X-ray showed that I had broken my wrist.
bruise to hurt a part of your body when you fall on it or hit it, causing a dark mark to appear on your skin:
Cathy fell off her bike and bruised her legs badly.
sprain/twist to hurt your knee, wrist, shoulder etc by suddenly twisting it while you are moving:
I jumped down from the wall and landed awkwardly, spraining my ankle.
strain/pull to hurt one of your muscles by stretching it or using it too much:
When you are lifting heavy loads, be careful not to strain a back muscle.
dislocate to damage a joint in your body in a way that moves the two parts of the joint out of their normal position:
Our best batsman dislocated his shoulder during training.
paralyse [usually passive] to make someone lose the ability to move part or all of their body:
A climbing accident had left him paralysed from the chest down.
ache to hurt with a continuous pain:
I’d been walking all day and my legs were really aching.
throb to feel a bad pain that comes and goes again in a regular and continuous way:
Lou had a terrible headache and his whole head seemed to be throbbing.
sting to feel a sharp pain, or to make someone feel this, especially in your eyes, throat, or skin:
My throat stings every time I swallow.
This injection may sting a little.
smart to hurt with a sudden sharp pain – used especially about your eyes, or your skin where something has hit you:
Her eyes were smarting from the thick smoke.
Jackson’s face was still smarting from the punch.
burn to feel very hot and painful or uncomfortable:
Be careful because this chemical will make your skin burn.
His eyes were burning because of the gas.
pinch if something you are wearing pinches you, it is too tight and presses painfully on your skin:
The shirt was a bit too small and it was pinching my neck.
something is killing me spoken informal used when something feels very painful:
My legs are killing me.
These shoes are killing me.
a bad back/leg/arm etc if you have a bad back/leg/arm etc, it feels painful:
He’s off work with a bad back.
upset [not before noun] unhappy and worried because something unpleasant or disappointing has happened:
Miss Hurley is too upset to speak to anyone at the moment.
She’s still deeply upset about her uncle’s death.
He’s upset that he didn’t get an invitation to their wedding.
distressed very upset:
Priests have been counselling distressed relatives of the victims.
She was visibly distressed after hearing of her husband’s accident.
Matilda was too distressed to speak.
distraught written so upset and worried that you are unable to do normal things, and nothing can make you feel calm:
Benson was so distraught over the breakup of his marriage that he felt like committing suicide.
The distraught parents of the missing baby have made a public appeal for her return.
in a (terrible) state British English informal so upset that you cannot stop crying:
She called me one night in a terrible state, saying she wanted to die.
I could see that she was in a bit of a state.
be worked up informal to be very upset or angry, so that you think things are worse than they really are:
I was too worked up to sleep.
It’s not worth getting worked up about. Anyone can make a mistake.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

pinch
pɪntʃ
See: take with a grain of salt also take with a pinch of salt , where the shoe pinches

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲