smile

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He tries to smile, and say something agreeable in return--the smile is a failure; the words a greater failure.

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Definitions (25)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (7)

  1. noun A facial expression characterized by an upward curving of the corners of the mouth and indicating pleasure, amusement, or derision.
  2. noun A pleasant or favorable disposition or aspect.
  3. intransitive verb To have or form a smile.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (12)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (3)

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Examples (50)

  • She smiled at him again, and her smile was as sweet and guileless as the smile on the face of his very own sainted grandmother Not that Malone remembered his grandmother; she had died before he'd been born. —  That Sweet Little Old Lady
  • And his smile is as the smile of the rising sun in an oleograph This personage one day blessed the hedgehog's foot I at present possess, and endowed it solemnly with miraculous curative properties. —  Halima And The Scorpions 1905
  • Elizabeth smiled too, but her smile was a bit uncertain I--I think I understand you, Cap'n Kendrick," she said. —  Fair Harbor
  • Make her have you I aim to," smiled the Texan, and Grimshaw noted that behind the smile was a ring of determination. —  Prairie Flowers
  • But notwithstanding all her efforts, the smile was a sad one; for her heart was heavy, and the appearance of the magistrate was not calculated to strengthen her hope. —  Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 450 Volume 18, New Series, August 14, 1852
 

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Suggestions Wordniks Suggest

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

grin ·  look ·  gesture ·  glance ·  face ·  feel ·  tear ·  lip ·  cry ·  joy ·  air ·  touch

Used in the same contextWord Family

smile:   smiles ·  smiling ·  smiled
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. From Middle English smilen, to smile, probably of Scandinavian origin; see smei- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English smilent, smylen, from Swedish smila, smile, smirk, simper, fawn, = Danish smile = Middle High German smielen, smieren, German dial. schmieren, schmielen, smile: cf. Latin mirari (for *smirari?), wonder at (mirus, wonderful) (see miracle, admire); Greek μειδιᾱν (for *σμειδιᾱν?), smile, μεῑδος, a smile; Sanskritsmi, smile. Cf. smirk. The Middle Dutch smuylen, smollen = Middle High German smollen, German dial. schmollen, smile, apparently belong to a different root.
  2. from Middle English smil = Swedish smil = Danish smil = Middle High German smiel; from the verb.
 

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/smaɪl/
by American Heritage

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