Cringe is being used as a noun, here. If something makes you feel embarrassed, or makes others embarrassed on your behalf, that's cringe. The reasons behind that embarrassment is entirely dependent on the cultural context of the observer.

Say you find yourself in Victorian culture, and you use the shrimp fork to pit an olive: cringe! Some observers will laugh behind their hands: cringe! Others will gossip about you later, others will gossip about the loss of decorum of those who laughed.

Or maybe you're out in the back country with some cultured locals, who offer you coffee in the morning. You say "yes please, a bone-dry triple venti cappuccino with whipped cream and salted caramel!" Cringe! With a hearty guffaw, they pour off a cup from the percolator and drop a couple of elk berries to fancy it up a bit. In a bold attempt to save face, you act casual and drink it down. Cringe! Now they'll be telling your tale for years to come.

The author is using a trick from philosophy - taking an existing word (in this case: cringe) and redefining it in a new expansive way somewhat related to its original meaning. Whereas it originally might mean "an involuntary reaction to something embarrassing" the author seems to intend for it to mean "embarrassing, self unaware, shallow, vapid" with the added comprehension that cringe is a rank-able thing - someone is always more "cringe" then you.

Yep, me neither. The best I can tell is that it's a new children's term. If a kid says "that's cringe", it means "I don't like that".

it's not just you. i am, i think, "that" generation and i have no idea what this is all about. the word "cringe" is overused, we should "cancel" it.