Library / English Dictionary

WRINKLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A clever method of doing something (especially something new and different)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("wrinkle" is a kind of...):

method (a way of doing something, especially a systematic way; implies an orderly logical arrangement (usually in steps))

Sense 2

Meaning:

A minor difficulty

Example:

they finally have the wrinkles pretty well ironed out

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("wrinkle" is a kind of...):

difficulty (a factor causing trouble in achieving a positive result or tending to produce a negative result)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A slight depression or fold in the smoothness of a surface

Example:

ironing gets rid of most wrinkles

Synonyms:

crease; crinkle; furrow; line; seam; wrinkle

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Hypernyms ("wrinkle" is a kind of...):

depression; impression; imprint (a concavity in a surface produced by pressing)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "wrinkle"):

crow's feet; crow's foot; laugh line (a wrinkle in the skin at the outer corner of your eyes)

dermatoglyphic (the lines that form patterns on the skin (especially on the fingertips and the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet))

frown line (a facial wrinkle associated with frowning)

life line; lifeline; line of life (a crease on the palm; its length is said by palmists to indicate how long you will live)

heart line; line of heart; love line; mensal line (a crease on the palm; palmists say it indicates your emotional nature)

line of destiny; line of fate; line of Saturn (a crease on the palm; palmists say it indicates how successful you will be)

Holonyms ("wrinkle" is a part of...):

cutis; skin; tegument (a natural protective body covering and site of the sense of touch)

Derivation:

wrinkle (become wrinkled or crumpled or creased)

wrinkle (make wrinkled or creased)

wrinkle (make wrinkles or creases on a smooth surface; make a pressed, folded or wrinkled line in; 'crisp' is archaic)

wrinkle (gather or contract into wrinkles or folds; pucker)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Become wrinkled or crumpled or creased

Example:

This fabric won't wrinkle

Synonyms:

crease; crinkle; crumple; rumple; wrinkle

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "wrinkle" is one way to...):

fold; fold up (become folded or folded up)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sentence examples:

The sheets didn't wrinkle

These fabrics wrinkle easily

Derivation:

wrinkle (a slight depression or fold in the smoothness of a surface)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make wrinkled or creased

Example:

furrow one's brow

Synonyms:

crease; furrow; wrinkle

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "wrinkle" is one way to...):

fold; fold up; turn up (bend or lay so that one part covers the other)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

wrinkle (a slight depression or fold in the smoothness of a surface)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make wrinkles or creases on a smooth surface; make a pressed, folded or wrinkled line in; 'crisp' is archaic

Example:

crease the paper like this to make a crane

Synonyms:

crease; crinkle; crisp; ruckle; scrunch; scrunch up; wrinkle

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "wrinkle" is one way to...):

fold; fold up; turn up (bend or lay so that one part covers the other)

Domain usage:

archaicism; archaism (the use of an archaic expression)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "wrinkle"):

cockle; crumple; knit; pucker; rumple (to gather something into small wrinkles or folds)

pucker; ruck; ruck up (become wrinkled or drawn together)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

They wrinkle the sheets

Derivation:

wrinkle (a slight depression or fold in the smoothness of a surface)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Gather or contract into wrinkles or folds; pucker

Example:

purse ones's lips

Synonyms:

purse; wrinkle

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "wrinkle" is one way to...):

contract (make smaller)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

wrinkle (a slight depression or fold in the smoothness of a surface)

Credits

 Context examples: 

These problems include acne scars, wrinkles, or skin changes caused by long-term sun exposure.

(Chemabrasion, NCI Dictionary)

The facial wrinkles continue under the chin and down the neck.

(Neapolitan Mastiff, NCI Thesaurus)

His jaws opened, and he muttered some inarticulate sounds, while a grin wrinkled his cheeks.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

He stared now at the stranger with a wrinkled brow and the air of a man who is striving to stir his memory.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It is used in skin care products to reduce wrinkles and soften the skin.

(Glycolic acid, NCI Dictionary)

A morphologic finding indicating the presence of wrinkles in the basement membrane of the glomeruli.

(Glomerular Basement Membrane Wrinkling, NCI Thesaurus)

A type of surgery used to make the skin smooth and to improve the way deep scars, pits, and wrinkles look.

(Dermabrasion, NCI Dictionary)

You must yourself have remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Her face was distorted and malignant with menace, even the bridge of the nose wrinkling from tip to eyes so prodigious was her snarl.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

She found us here; and presented her uncongenial cheek, the little wrinkles in it filled with hair powder, to Dora to be kissed.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)