cringe vs fawn

cringe

noun
  • A gesture or posture of cringing (recoiling or shrinking). 

  • An act or disposition of servile obeisance. 

  • A crick (“painful muscular cramp or spasm of some part of the body”). 

  • Awkwardness or embarrassment which causes an onlooker to cringe; cringeworthiness. 

verb
  • To experience an inward feeling of disgust, embarrassment, or fear; (by extension) to feel very embarrassed. 

  • To cower, flinch, recoil, shrink, or tense, as in disgust, embarrassment, or fear. 

  • To bow or crouch in servility. 

  • To act in an obsequious or servile manner. 

adj
  • Inducing awkwardness, embarrassment, or secondhand embarrassment; cringemaking, cringeworthy, cringy. 

fawn

noun
  • A servile cringe or bow. 

  • A pale brown colour tinted with yellow, like that of a fawn. 

  • Base flattery. 

  • A young deer. 

verb
  • To seek favour by flattery and obsequious behaviour (with on or upon). 

  • To show devotion or submissiveness by wagging its tail, nuzzling, licking, etc. 

  • To exhibit affection or attempt to please. 

  • To give birth to a fawn. 

adj
  • Of the fawn colour. 

How often have the words cringe and fawn occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )