wrinkle

/ˈrɪŋkəl/

/ˈrɪŋkəl/

Other forms: wrinkled; wrinkles; wrinkling

If you work to iron a stubborn wrinkle out of your shirt, you're trying to smooth out a crease. A wrinkle is a dent or line where that smoothness is interrupted.

You might fret about a wrinkle in your skirt or a new wrinkle on your face. Another kind of wrinkle is more figurative: a small complication or problem that arises suddenly. You could describe a torrential rain storm as a wrinkle in your plan to film a sunny scene in your movie, for example. The Old English root is gewrinclod, "wrinkled, crooked, or winding," and it comes from the verb wrinclian, "to wind."

Definitions of wrinkle

1. noun

   a slight depression in the smoothness of a surface
   “ironing gets rid of most wrinkles”

   synonyms: crease, crinkle, furrow, line, seam

   types:

   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 Saturn, line of destiny, line of fate

   a crease on the palm; palmists say it indicates how successful you will be

   type of:

   depression, impression, imprint

   a concavity in a surface produced by pressing
2. noun

   a minor difficulty
   “they finally have the wrinkles pretty well ironed out”

   type of:

   difficulty

   a factor causing trouble in achieving a positive result or tending to produce a negative result
3. noun

   a clever method of doing something (especially something new and different)
   type of:

   method

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

   gather or contract into wrinkles or folds; pucker
   synonyms: purse

   type of:

   contract

   make smaller
5. verb

   make wrinkles or creases on a smooth surface; make a pressed, folded or wrinkled line in
   “The dress got wrinkled”

   synonyms: crease, crinkle, crisp, ruckle, scrunch, scrunch up

   types:

   cockle, crumple, knit, pucker, rumple

   to gather something into small wrinkles or folds

   pucker, ruck, ruck up

   become wrinkled or drawn together

   type of:

   fold, fold up, turn up

   bend or lay so that one part covers the other
6. verb

   become wrinkled or crumpled or creased
   “This fabric won't wrinkle”

   synonyms: crease, crinkle, crumple, rumple

   type of:

   fold, fold up

   become folded or folded up
7. verb

   make wrinkled or creased
   synonyms: crease, furrow

   type of:

   fold, fold up, turn up

   bend or lay so that one part covers the other