Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A small grimace; a pout.
Wiktionary
- n. A pout, especially as expressing mock-annoyance or flirtatiousness. [from 19th c.]
WordNet 3.0
- n. a disdainful grimace
Etymologies
- French, from Old French moe, of Germanic origin.
Examples
“Sophy snatched at the doll petulantly, and made what the French call a moue at the good man as she suffered her grandfather to replace her on the sofa.”
“Up he came, whom Charlotte welcomed very demurely, and so left us, saying that she must go about her household business; but as she departed she cast a look back at me, making a "moue," as the French say, with her red lips.”
“The doctor could not help laughing at the sort of "moue" she made: when he laughed, he had something peculiarly good-natured and genial in his look.”
“His typical facial expression is to set his mouth in a moue, somewhere between a pucker and a pout.”
“This is because the actress will have to do that hideous Renee Zellwegger pose to the cameras, when she turns her back to them to show off her exciting backlessness and make that annoying moue of an expression: Ooh, look at my back!”
“Miss Osborne frowned, her lips pursing in a quick moue of distaste, obviously unsure whether she was being ridiculed.”
“She made a moue of distaste and raised a hand protestingly.”
“I give them a little moue to indicate that I'm not looking forward to the occasion.”
“Between her half-frozen ears and flushed cheeks, a battle between a hopeful smile and an exhausted moue idled at a stalemate.”
“She glanced aside to the rim of the looking-glass where his photograph was wedged, shuddered, and made a moue of distaste.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘moue’.
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Visuals
A list of words which yield surprising, beautiful, amusing, or otherwise noteworthy images here on Wordnik.
photochrom, fufluns, thank you, cool l..., postcard, picture postcard, cricket, physiological ill..., Gakuryū Ishii, ametropia, One Froggy Evening, rhodopsin, Santiago Calatrava and 624 more...
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henryar's list
marmoleum, menagerie, cyan, ochre, pilfer, discombobulate, loquacious, iridescent, amethyst, derelict, botulism, equilibrium and 240 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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About Face
face, about face, about-face, facet, faced, face card, face value, face facts, facetious, Janus-faced, Boniface, volte-face and 70 more...
milosrdenstvi In Cheaper By The Dozen (or its sequel; can't remember) the mother tells the girls that it is improper to make a 'depreciating moue'...or something to that effect. Aug 18, 2008
frindley My French dictionary gives the pronunciation as:
mu
where the /u/ is the kind of sound you get in fou.
As I understand it the vowel is placed very forward in the mouth (not back as in the English moo) and with somewhat pursed or pouting lips.
Almost like a less extreme version of the contortions that teenage girls make when they go eeeeeewh! Apr 1, 2008
plethora What is the correct pronunciation of moue? I've always read it as moo but that can't be right... Apr 1, 2008
frindley Saying moue results in one's face assuming a moue. There has to be a word for that, a physical variant of aural onomatopoeia. Mar 31, 2008