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  1. grimace love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A sharp contortion of the face expressive of pain, contempt, or disgust.
  2. v. To make a sharp contortion of the face.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. An involuntary or spontaneous distortion of the countenance, expressive of pain or great discomfort, or of disgust, disdain, or disapproval; a wry face.
  2. n. An affected expression of the countenance, intended to indicate interest or cordiality, or petty conceit or arrogance.
  3. n. Simulation of interest or sincerity; duplicity; hypocrisy.
  4. To make grimaces; distort the countenance.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A distortion of the countenance, whether habitual, from affectation, or momentary and occasional, to express some feeling, as contempt, disapprobation, complacency, etc.; a smirk; a made-up face.
  2. v. To make grimaces; to distort one's face; to make faces.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. A distortion of the countenance, whether habitual, from affectation, or momentary and occasional, to express some feeling, as contempt, disapprobation, complacency, etc.; a smirk; a made-up face.
  2. v. To make grimaces; to distort one's face; to make faces.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a contorted facial expression
  2. v. contort the face to indicate a certain mental or emotional state

Etymologies

  1. 1645-55 From French descended from Frankish grima ("mask") + -azo (Wiktionary)
  2. French, from Old French grimache, alteration of grimuche, probably from Frankish *grīma, mask. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “WORDS ACCENTED ON THE LAST SYLLABLE: address _address'_ adept _adept'_ adult _adult'_ ally _ally'_ commandant _commandänt '(ä as in arm) _ contour _contour'_ dessert _dessert'_ dilate _dilate'_ excise _eksiz'_ finance _finance'_ grimace _grimace'_ importune _importune'_ occult _occult'_ pretence _pretence'_ research _research'_ robust _robust'_ romance _romance'_ tirade _tirade'_”

    Practical Grammar and Composition

  • “He hits Neng as hard as he can, smack, kick, smack, kick, then he jumps on his knees and on to his shoulders, and there isn't a single grimace from the Thai master.”

    The Guardian: Dizzee Rascal: Fight to the top

  • “But a fleeting grimace is soon replaced with the jovial stoicism that runs through the English like rheumatism.”

    Perhaps I shall hire a little boat ......

  • “The expression grimace on your face is pretty funny in the photo where you are sitting on the steps with the dog at your feet.”

    The Big Event

  • “Timothy Goebel's mid-jump grimace is no indication of how he felt about his return to competition.”

    USATODAY.com - Goebel glad to be healthy again

  • “Handsome production design and pretty faces even after being ‘broken’ by the secret police, some of the drama students remain fresh-faced with a tiny bloody streak and a grimace are the chief assets here, this is pageantry of the Hollywood kind if you go for that sort of thing.”

    Row Three » Welcome Year of the Rat - Where Cinema is more than just $100 Million productions

  • “A grimace was the closest he could come to changing his facial expression, since his species wasn't exactly geared for smiling, frowning, and other human-like actions.”

    Simon & Schuster: Fire on High

  • “I tried to smile; but as I am an incompetent actor my grimace was a proclamation of disingenuousness.”

    The Morals of Marcus Ordeyne : a Novel

  • “Their grimace was a picture when I showed the original.”

    Philip Gilbert Hamerton

  • “As the Roman catholics represent the inconceivable mysteries of the Christian religion, and render them more present to the mind, by a taper, or habit, or grimace, which is supposed to resemble them; so lawyers and moralists have run into like inventions for the same reason, and have endeavoured by those means to satisfy themselves concerning the transference of property by consent.”

    A Treatise of Human Nature

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synonyms (6)

Words with the same meaning

  1. smirk
  1. face
  1. mow
  1. mop
  1. mouth
  1. mug

same context (17)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. grin
  2. shrug
  3. chuckle
  1. grunt
  2. snarl
  3. exclamation
  1. sneer
  2. smirk
  3. gesture
  1. spasm
  2. glint
  3. leer
  1. twinge
  2. shake
  3. howl
  1. shiver
  2. stare

reverse dictionary (25)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. mow
  2. moue
  3. wry face
  4. pout
  5. mop
  1. irp
  2. make
  3. moppet
  4. mug
  5. splaymouth
  1. splaymouthed
  2. grimask
  3. girn
  4. rictus
  5. to make a face
  1. ace
  2. mouth
  3. face
  4. simagre
  5. grin
  1. sneer
  2. murgeon
  3. stitch
  4. wit
  5. zany

tags (9)

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  1. words
  1. abuse
  1. stephenie meyer
  1. twilight
  1. overuse
  1. repeat
  1. thesaurus
  1. writer
  1. sucks

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Lists

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Comments

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  • agustinolvera Eclispe by Stephenie Meyer Page 82
    -"I glanced, wide eyed, from Edwards grimace to Jacobs sneer." Nov 1, 2010

  • oroboros Did I just hear Tom Brokaw pronounce "grimaces" with a long a? Wow! Jan 20, 2009

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‘grimace’ has been looked up 5037 times, loved by 2 people, added to 45 lists, commented on 2 times, and has a Scrabble score of 12.