Rictus definitions and example sentences on Wordnik

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Definitions (6)

noun The expanse of an open mouth, a bird's beak, or similar structure.
noun A gaping grimace: "his mouth gaping in a kind of rictus of startled alarm” (Richard Adams).

His face contorted into a painful rictus, but he didn't cry. — F ;SF; - vol 087 issue 06 - December 1994
I own him now And though the lines of her white face were twisted and constricted into an unpleasant rictus, the Master of Sinanju saw that the face before him-her four arms waving, two holding the torn ends of the limp yellow scarf-was a face he knew well. — Destroyer 106: White Water
He walked along the corridor, a rictus-like smile screwed onto his face. — The Wheel of Darkness by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
The face was hard and leathery, the eyes gone, the mouth open in some kind of rictus But worse than that, this one was burned Richard had been told to expect radiation burns, but he wasn't sure how they'd show up. — Magazine - Asimov's Science Fiction - 2007 - Issue 02 - February
A bad omen You have our payment, I suppose Vingi's face was a rictus, a snarl. — Asimov's Science Fiction - 1977_02(002)Summer