wrinkle

Probably from stem of Old English gewrinclod.

• wrincle (obsolete)

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ɪŋkəl

wrinkle (plural wrinkles)

1. A small furrow, ridge or crease in an otherwise smooth surface.
2. A line or crease in the skin, especially when caused by age or fatigue.

   Spending time out in the sun may cause you to develop wrinkles sooner.

3. A fault, imperfection or bug especially in a new system or product; typically, they will need to be ironed out.

   Three months later, we're still discovering new wrinkles.

4. A twist on something existing; a novel difference.
   • 2015, Mark Ribowsky, Whiskey Bottles and Brand-New Cars

     There were now a grab bag of southern country-rock units with a new wrinkle—Black Oak Arkansas, for one, combined psychedelia, fifties rock, Hindu spiritualism, and gospel into “psycho-boogie,” or “raunch 'n' roll.”

wrinkle (third-person singular simple present wrinkles, present participle wrinkling, simple past and past participle wrinkled)

1. (transitive) To make wrinkles in; to cause to have wrinkles.

   Be careful not to wrinkle your dress before we arrive.

   • Alexander Pope

     her wrinkled form in black and white arrayed

2. (intransitive) To pucker or become uneven or irregular.

   An hour in the tub will cause your fingers to wrinkle.

3. (intransitive, of skin) To develop irreversibly wrinkles; to age.

   The skin is the substance that wrinkles, shows age, stretches, scars and cuts.

4. (intransitive, obsolete) To sneer (at).

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Marston to this entry?)

• unwrinkled
• wrinkle-free
• wrinkly

wrinkle (plural wrinkles)

1. (US, dialectal) A winkle

• “wrinkle” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.

• Winkler