Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. The expanse of an open mouth, a bird's beak, or similar structure.
- n. A gaping grimace: "his mouth gaping in a kind of rictus of startled alarm” ( Richard Adams).
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. A bird's gaping mouth
- n. Any open-mouthed expression
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. The gape of the mouth, as of birds; -- often resricted to the corners of the mouth.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In ornithology, the gape of the bill; the cleft between the upper and the lower mandible when the mouth is open.
- n. In botany, the throat, as of a calyx, corolla, etc.; the opening between the lips of a ringent or personate flower.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- n. a gaping grimace
Etymologies
Examples
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It was best described as a rictus – a mug somewhere between a frozen formal grin and someone trying to hold back on saying, “oh shit oh dear …”.
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I have not yet seen the photographs but I see the word 'rictus' coming to my mind.
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The parents went on and on about how Daniel is usually so shy, but he really loved me, and my peaceful meal turned into me trying to appease some young chitterling at the next table with some kind of rictus plastered across my weary face.
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Her face hardened, and her mouth pulled into a gaping rictus.
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Her mouth curled into a rictus of a grin, her front teeth broken and ragged.
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His scaled lips pulled back in a mocking rictus of a grin.
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They stare silently back at me, their faces frozen in a permanent rictus of hate.
Bright Western knick-knack challenge!!! « Third Point of Singularity
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I appear tortured and gripped with terror, my features drawn in a rictus of anxiety.
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Her eyes were clenched shut, a rictus of pain marring her features.
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Majeed's own face was a rictus of anguish as his counsel, seeking to mitigate the prison sentence he will surely receive for his part in a conspiracy to subvert cricket, held up Butt as the criminal mastermind.
Salman Butt, a man who had everything, faces a life of ignominy
bilby commented on the word rictus
"A rictus of cruel malignity lit up greyly their old bony faces."
- James Joyce, 'A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'.
August 26, 2009
hernesheir commented on the word rictus
(n): the gape of the mouth, as of birds; often specifically the corners of the mouth.
January 1, 2009
bookhling commented on the word rictus
*I said smile, not horrible rictus!*
from the Questionable Content
September 13, 2008