One word for facial expression

You’re about to learn 27 words for facial expressions in English. You might also like 60 Negative Emotion Adjectives to Describe Negative Feelings.

Facial expressions can tell us how other people are feeling.

They’re a very important part of how we communicate with each other.

Let’s look at different facial expressions for looking happy, sad and confused, plus other facial expressions with your mouth, eyes, nose and your whole face.

Ways of smiling

Smile

What does it mean?

OK. We all know what this means, right?

Good. Let’s move on!

Examples, please!

You can use “smile” as a verb:

“The old woman on the bus spent the whole journey looking and smiling at me.”

Or a noun — often with “on his face”:

“As soon as he walked into the room with that smile on his face, I knew we’d won.”

Grin

What does it mean?

You know that feeling when you smile a lot, and you just can’t control it?

That’s a grin: a big smile — sometimes out of your control.

Examples, please!

Again, you can use it as a verb. Like most of the verbs in this post, use “at” if you want to add an object:

“Stop grinning at me like that and just tell me what happened!”

When we use “grin” as a noun, we can go for the phrase “ear-to-ear.”

“She ran around with an ear-to-ear grin on her face, holding her new toy.”

Beam

What does it mean?

Normally, a beam is just a ray of light.

So when you’re beaming, you’re smiling so much it’s like there’s light coming out of you.

Examples, please!

“Have you seen Alex? She’s been beaming all day. I wonder what happened last night?”

Smirk

What does it mean?

Some people are kind of evil.

Like Tony from my negative personality adjectives lesson:

When Tony smiles at you, you know it’s not a good smile.

When Tony smiles at you, he’s really saying, “Haha! You think that’s a good idea? Well, I think you’re stupid!”

It’s THAT smile.

Examples, please!

As usual, use “at.”

“Don’t just sit there and smirk at me like that! Tell me what you’re thinking!”

We also have this phrase:

“Wipe that smirk off your face, will you?”

And like all the smiles, we can add “on your face”:

“Why has he always got that horrible smirk on his face? Can’t he just smile nicely or just not at all?”

Sneer

What does it mean?

This is similar to “smirk.”

Examples, please!

“I tried to talk to the boss about the new ideas during the meeting, but he just sat there and sneered at me whenever I tried to say anything. I think he doesn’t like me.”

While we’re here, did you notice that we use “smirk” and “sneer” with phrases like “Don’t just sit there and …” or “He just sat there and …”

But why? Why are we talking about sitting?

Well, when someone’s doing something useless or unpleasant (or both), we can add the phrase “just sit there and …” (or “just stand there and …”).

When we do this, we’re drawing attention to the fact that this person is not being very helpful.

Other mouth facial expressions

Pursed lips

What does it mean?

When you bring your lips into your mouth.

Sometimes it’s when you’re angry with someone.

Or sometimes it’s when you’re concentrating on something.

Or sometimes it’s when you’re worried about something.

Examples, please!

“His pursed lips told me something was wrong.”

Pout

What does it mean?

This is basically the opposite of pursed lips.

When you purse your lips, you bring them inside.

When you pout, you push them out. (It rhymes, so it must be true.)

Think about Instagram photos and teenagers who don’t get what they want.

And especially of teenagers who don’t get what they want and then put a selfie on Instagram to complain about it.

They’re seriously just the worst, aren’t they?

Examples, please!

“You won’t get what you want just by sitting there and pouting.”

Your jaw dropped

What does it mean?

Imagine you’re walking along the street, and you suddenly see an elephant selling insurance. How do you think you’d react?

You’d certainly feel shocked, right?

And your mouth — what do you think would happen to your mouth?

It would be wide open, wouldn’t it?

The sight of the insurance-selling elephant would cause your jaw (the lower part of your mouth) to drop (or open).

Examples, please!

OK. So you can just use the verb:

“His jaw is going to drop when he sees what we’ve done to his car!”

But we also have the adjective “jaw-dropping” to describe something really impressive or amazing.

“The election? What a jaw-dropping experience. No one would’ve thought that THAT guy would win!”

Stick your tongue out

What does it mean?

Take your tongue (not with your hands, please) and put it outside your mouth.

Examples, please!

Like with many facial expressions, you can add “at” if you want to direct the gesture towards someone.

“The kids took my wallet straight out of my pocket, stuck their tongues out at me and ran off laughing.”

You can also say “poke your tongue out”:

“Did you see what that monkey just …? I promise you! It just poked its tongue out at me!”

Facial expressions with your eyebrows

Just so we all know what eyebrows are, here are a pair of bushy ones:

Raise your eyebrows

What does it mean?

Move your eyebrows upwards.

If you do this, you might be surprised.

Or you might be doing that expression that says, “Yes, yes, yes. You saw a horse with five legs. The thing is, I don’t believe you.”

Examples, please!

Again, if you want to include the object of the sentence, use “at.”

“Don’t raise your eyebrows at me like that! I swear! It had five legs. And two heads. I’m not making this up!”

So the subject can be the person whose eyebrows are raised.

But if we want to talk about some shocking or surprising news, for example, we can use “the news” as the subject:

“The news of the marriage between the rival gang members raised eyebrows.”

Raise an eyebrow

What does it mean?

This is different from “raise your eyebrows.”

When you raise both eyebrows, your face is saying “Wow! I’m shocked!”

When you just raise one, it’s much cooler.

It’s like your face is saying, “Hey! I see what you’re doing. I don’t quite understand it, but I’m still in complete control here.”

Examples, please!

“When I told her I was making ice cream curry for dinner, she raised an eyebrow at me.”

Frown

What does it mean?

Do the opposite of raising your eyebrows.

Bring them down so you look angry.

Congratulations! Now you’re frowning!

Examples, please!

Again — you can use “at”:

“He just sat there and frowned at the piece of paper for hours before suddenly jumping out of his chair and running out of the room. What a strange doctor.”

Facial expressions with your eyes

Wide-eyed

What does it mean?

This is an adjective, and we use it to describe someone’s face when they have their eyes completely open — usually because they’re shocked or amazed by something.

Examples, please!

We often use “wide-eyed” to describe youth or people who have little experience of the big, bad world.

“When we got off the bus, we were immediately surrounded by friendly, wide-eyed kids.”

We can also use it as an adverb:

“‘Is that your real hair?’ she asked me, wide-eyed.”

Squint

What does it mean?

Close your eyes about 80 percent of the way.

That’s squinting.

You probably do it when you go out without your sunglasses on a sunny day.

Or if you’re looking at someone you hate.

Examples, please!

“His writing was so small that the whole class was squinting at the board trying to read it.”

Sideways glance

What does it mean?

When you look at someone next to you without moving your head.

Examples, please!

A sideways glance can be something positive or something negative.

When you’re kind of suspicious of someone, but in a playful way, you can give them a sideways glance:

“‘You’re not a professional footballer! I don’t believe you!’ she said with a sideways glance.”

But it can also happen when you don’t trust someone, and even when you want to be quite aggressive:

“I caught his sideways glance and immediately knew he didn’t want to work with me on this.”

There are a few common verbs you can use with this:

“She cast him a sideways glance.”

“Eric shot his father a sideways glance and went back to his newspaper.”

“I saw you throw me a sideways glance! I hate it when you do that!”

Roll your eyes

What does it mean?

Quick! Look up at the inside of your head!

That’s it! You’ve just rolled your eyes.

It’s that expression we use when we think someone’s being stupid or annoying.

Examples, please!

“So I went to the embassy to report my stolen passport, and the guy there just rolled his eyes at me! Ridiculous!”

Wink

What does it mean?

Quickly close one eye and open it again.

That’s it — you’ve winked!

This means slightly different things in different cultures, but in my experience, when someone winks at you, they’re basically saying, “Hey! I’m on your side!”

Sometimes it can even mean “Don’t worry! I won’t tell anyone — this can be our little secret!”

Examples, please!

“Charlie paid for his bag of sweets. Just as he was leaving, the shopkeeper handed him a Plonka Bar and winked at him.”

By the way, I heard that you really shouldn’t wink at people in Pakistan. It’s considered quite aggressive.

Give someone a dirty look

What does it mean?

What do you do when someone does something you really hate?

Or when they’ve just said something horrible to you?

You look at them in an angry way, right? You want them to know you’re not happy.

That’s a dirty look.

Examples, please!

“Don’t ask that guy for help. I just asked him the time, and he threw me this really dirty look!”

Look down your nose at someone

What does it mean?

There are some people in this world who somehow think they’re superior — that they’re better than everyone else.

Remember Tony?

Here he is again, looking down his nose at everyone else:

Examples, please!

“That shop sucks! All the staff just sort of look down their noses at you. Not fun shopping.”

Glazed over

What does it mean?

You know when someone’s talking to you, and it’s just not interesting at all.

Sometimes you start staring into space and imagining building a castle made of chocolate.

Or you start thinking about what to buy from the shops that evening.

Either way — whether it’s chocolate castles or supermarkets — the other person can see in your eyes that you’re somewhere else.

Because your eyes have glazed over.

Examples, please!

“I started talking to him about the best way to avoid traffic on the M25 during Friday evening rush hour, but his eyes just glazed over.”

Facial expressions with your nose

Wrinkle your nose

What does it mean?

When did you last say, “Eugh! That food stinks!”?

Try to remember how your face looked.

It’s that face we make when we feel something in between disapproval and complete disgust.

Examples, please!

“The kids showed their auntie their drawings, but she just wrinkled her nose at them. She’s not very good with kids.”

Facial expressions with your whole face

Long face

What does it mean?

This is basically an unhappy expression.

It’s the opposite of a smile.

Examples, please!

Let’s say you run into one of your friends, and she’s looking quite unhappy.

You want to ask her why she looks sad.

So you can say:

“Hey! Why the long face?”

This leads me to a very famous and very bad joke:

“A horse walks into a bar, and the barman says, ‘Why the long face?’”

Haha!

Blank expression

What does it mean?

This is also known as “poker face.”

When someone just doesn’t show any emotion or expression at all.

You just can’t read them.

Examples, please!

We can use “don’t just sit there with …” with this expression:

“Don’t just sit there with that blank expression on your face! Say something!”

You can also use it with the verb “have”:

“Have you met Yami? She’s the one who constantly has a blank expression on her face. Aliens could land outside her café, and she wouldn’t look surprised.”

Grimace

What does it mean?

This is when you make a particularly ugly face as a reaction to something.

Maybe you’re disgusted at something, like while watching Cannibal Holocaust or Texas Chainsaw Massacre or some other ridiculously violent film.

Maybe you disapprove of something, like when you hear that your best friend has started going out with Tony, even though he’s the worst man in the world.

Or maybe it’s out of fear of something you need to do, like when you’ve just been told that you’ll have to swim across that alligator river again.

Examples, please!

We often use “grimace” with “make”:

“Every time he wears those green shorts, it makes me grimace. I can’t help it!”

It can be a verb:

“As soon as they walked into the room, she grimaced.”

Or a noun — sometimes with “on her face”:

“With a grimace on her face, she stood up and walked onto the stage.”

Wince

What does it mean?

A grimace is a big, obvious expression.

And a wince is like a mini grimace.

It isn’t easy to spot, and it’s often gone in a few seconds.

Examples, please!

A wince is often associated with pain:

“He pulled the knife out of his arm with just a wince of pain and then jumped off the waterfall into the river and beat up a crocodile.”

A lot of examples I found also talk about avoiding wincing:

“Emma tried not to wince, but the pain was just too much.”

Neutral expression

What does it mean?

This is the same as a blank expression.

You just can’t tell what this person is thinking.

Examples, please!

We often use the phrase “met with a neutral expression.”

“I told the cop that my bike had been stolen, but I was met with a neutral expression. She then said that I shouldn’t have parked it outside that notorious bowling alley.”

Quizzical expression

What does it mean?

Have you noticed that thing that YouTubers use for the preview image of their videos?

They’re always looking either shocked or quizzical.

You know, that expression that says “Hmmm… That’s interesting, but how did it happen? I’m a bit confused but also interested!”

Possibly with one finger on their lips and with their eyebrows raised.

Examples, please!

We often use the phrase “with a quizzical expression on her face.”

“She looked down and saw the cat looking up at her with a quizzical expression on its face. She had no idea what on earth it wanted.”

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OK! Good work!

We’ve just covered a lot of different facial expressions in English.

So, let’s practice!

Take a look at these questions:

1. What makes you grimace?
2. What’s it like dealing with bureaucracy in your country? How often do you get met with blank expressions and rolling eyes?

Answers in the comments.

Did you like this post? Then be awesome and share by clicking the blue button below.

Face it — sometimes you must give your readers a countenance-based clue about what a character or a subject is feeling. First try conveying emotions indirectly or through dialogue, but if you must fall back on a descriptive term, try for precision:

1. Absent: preoccupied
2. Agonized: as if in pain or tormented
3. Alluring: attractive, in the sense of arousing desire
4. Appealing: attractive, in the sense of encouraging goodwill and/or interest
5. Beatific: see blissful
6. Bilious: ill-natured
7. Black: angry or sad, or see hostile
8. Bleak: see grim and hopeless
9. Blinking: surprise, or lack of concern
10. Blissful: showing a state of happiness or divine contentment
11. Blithe: carefree, lighthearted, or heedlessly indifferent
12. Brooding: see anxious and gloomy
13. Bug eyed: frightened or surprised
14. Chagrined: humiliated or disappointed
15. Cheeky: cocky, insolent
16. Cheerless: sad
17. Choleric: hot-tempered, irate
18. Coy: flirtily playful, or evasive
19. Crestfallen: see despondent
20. Darkly: with depressed or malevolent feelings
21. Deadpan: expressionless, to conceal emotion or heighten humor
22. Dejected: see despondent
23. Derisive: see sardonic
24. Despondent: depressed or discouraged
25. Doleful: sad or afflicted
26. Dour: stern or obstinate; see also despondent
27. Downcast: see despondent
28. Dreamy: distracted by daydreaming or fantasizing
29. Ecstatic: delighted or entranced
30. Etched: see fixed
31. Faint: cowardly, weak, or barely perceptible
32. Fixed: concentrated or immobile
33. Furtive: stealthy
34. Gazing: staring intently
35. Glancing: staring briefly as if curious but evasive
36. Glaring: see hostile
37. Glazed: expressionless due to fatigue or confusion
38. Gloomy: see despondent and sullen
39. Glowering: annoyed or angry
40. Glowing: see radiant
41. Grim: see despondent; also, fatalistic or pessimistic
42. Grave: serious, expressing emotion due to loss or sadness
43. Haunted: frightened, worried, or guilty
44. Hopeless: depressed by a lack of encouragement or optimism
45. Hostile: aggressively angry, intimidating, or resistant
46. Hunted: tense as if worried about pursuit
47. Impassive: see deadpan
48. Inscrutable: mysterious, unreadable
49. Jeering: insulting or mocking
50. Languid: lazy or weak
51. Leering: see meaningful; also, sexually suggestive
52. Meaningful: to convey an implicit connotation or shared secret
53. Mild: easygoing
54. Mischievous: annoyingly or maliciously playful
55. Moody: see sullen
56. Pained: affected with discomfort or pain
57. Pallid: see wan
58. Peering: with curiosity or suspicion
59. Peeved: annoyed
60. Petulant: see cheeky and peeved
61. Pitying: sympathetic
62. Pleading: seeking apology or assistance
63. Pouting: see sullen
64. Quizzical: questioning or confused
65. Radiant: bright, happy
66. Roguish: see mischievous
67. Sanguine: bloodthirsty, confident
68. Sardonic: mocking
69. Scornful: contemptuous or mocking
70. Scowling: displeased or threatening
71. Searching: curious or suspicious
72. Set: see fixed
73. Shamefaced: ashamed or bashful
74. Slack-jawed: dumbfounded or surprised
75. Sly: cunning; see also furtive and mischievous
76. Snarling: surly
77. Sneering: see scornful
78. Somber: see grave
79. Sour: unpleasant
80. Stolid: inexpressive
81. Straight-faced: see deadpan
82. Sulky: see sullen
83. Sullen: resentful
84. Taunting: see jeering
85. Taut: high-strung
86. Tense: see taut
87. Tight: see pained and taut
88. Unblinking: see fixed
89. Vacant: blank or stupid looking
90. Veiled: see inscrutable
91. Wan: pale, sickly; see also faint
92. Wary: cautious or cunning
93. Wide eyed: frightened or surprised
94. Wild eyed: excited, frightened, or stressful
95. Wistful: yearning or sadly thoughtful
96. Withering: devastating; see also wrathful
97. Woeful: full of grief or lamentation
98. Wolfish: see leering and mischievous
99. Wrathful: indignant or vengeful
100. Wry: twisted or crooked to express cleverness or a dark or ironic feeling

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This list of facial expressions for writers is one of my all-time most popular posts. It came about because I started to list facial expressions in a spiral notebook for my own reference, and then I figured I’d share. A lot of writers keep this page bookmarked! 

Writers need good facial expression descriptions in their writing to help the readers picture the characters and to convey emotions. However, it’s easy for us to rely on the same descriptions over and over again. And sometimes in the middle of writing, when we’re trying to find the words to describe an angry expression or a sad expression, we draw a blank.

The expressions are broken down by the part of the face. Note that some of them work for more than one emotion—a person might narrow their eyes out of vindictiveness or skepticism, for instance, and their face might turn red out of anger or out of embarrassment. Some of them require a little more explanation on your part. You’ll have to say what she’s glaring at, or if his face is contorting in rage, or grief, or what. And not all of these will work for every character. In many cases I’ve given several ways to describe the same thing. While I have included some longer phrases, they are not proprietary and it’s fine to use them.

Some of these aren’t exactly words to describe facial expressions, but they’re useful for dialogue tags. In fact, I started this list in a notebook for myself as a reference so I would stop using “he said” and “she said” so often…and as any editor or writing coach will tell you, just using tons of synonyms for “said” does not solve this problem; it makes it worse! By using a facial expression as a dialogue tag, you can also convey the tone of voice.

Here’s the facial expressions list. You might want to pin it for future reference!

Ways to Describe Expressions Related to the Eyes and Eyebrows

his eyes widened

their eyes went round

her eyelids drooped

his eyes narrowed

his eyes lit up

his eyes darted

he squinted

she blinked

her eyes twinkled

his eyes gleamed

her eyes sparkled

his eyes flashed

her eyes glinted

his eyes burned with…

her eyes blazed with…

her eyes sparked with…

her eyes flickered with…

_____ glowed in his eyes

the corners of his eyes crinkled

she rolled her eyes

he looked heavenward

she glanced up to the ceiling

she winked

tears filled her eyes

his eyes welled up

her eyes swam with tears

his eyes flooded with tears

her eyes were wet

their eyes glistened

tears shimmered in her eyes

tears shone in his eyes

her eyes were glossy

he was fighting back tears

tears ran down her cheeks

his eyes closed

she squeezed her eyes shut

he shut his eyes

his lashes fluttered

she batted her lashes

his brows knitted

her forehead creased

his forehead furrowed

her forehead puckered

a line appeared between their brows

his brows drew together

her brows snapped together

his eyebrows rose

she raised a brow

he lifted an eyebrow

his eyebrows waggled

she gave him a once-over

he sized her up

her eyes bored into him

she took in the sight of…

he glared

she peered

he gazed

she glanced

he stared

she scrutinized

he studied

she gaped

he observed

she surveyed

he gawked

he leered

his pupils (were) dilated

her pupils were huge

his pupils flared

Ways to Describe Expressions Related to the Nose

her nose crinkled

his nose wrinkled

she sneered

his nostrils flared

she stuck her nose in the air

he sniffed

she sniffled

Ways to Describe Expressions Related to the Mouth

she smiled

he smirked

she grinned

he simpered

she beamed

her mouth curved into a smile

the corners of his mouth turned up

the corner of her mouth quirked up

a corner of his mouth lifted

his mouth twitched

he gave a half-smile

she gave a lopsided grin

his mouth twisted

he plastered a smile on his face

she forced a smile

he faked a smile

their smile faded

his smile slipped

he pursed his lips

she pouted

his mouth snapped shut

her mouth set in a hard line

he pressed his lips together

she bit her lip

he drew his lower lip between his teeth

she nibbled on her bottom lip

he chewed on his bottom lip

his jaw set

her jaw clenched

his jaw tightened

a muscle in her jaw twitched

he ground his jaw

he snarled/his lips drew back in a snarl

her mouth fell open

his jaw dropped

her jaw went slack

he gritted his teeth

she gnashed her teeth

her lower lip trembled

his lower lip quivered

Ways to Describe Reactions Related to the Skin

she paled

he blanched

she went white

the color drained out of his face

his face reddened

her cheeks turned pink

his face flushed

she blushed

he turned red

she turned scarlet

he turned crimson

a flush crept up her face

Ways to Describe Expressions Having to Do With the Whole Face

he screwed up his face

she scrunched up her face

they grimaced

she winced

she gave him a dirty look

he frowned

she scowled

he glowered

her whole face lit up

she brightened

his face went blank

her face contorted

his face twisted

her expression closed up

his expression dulled

her expression hardened

she went poker-faced

a vein popped out in his neck

awe transformed his face

fear crossed her face

sadness clouded his features

terror overtook his face

recognition dawned on her face 

~

It may seem a little obsessive to list facial expressions, but there’s almost nothing I like better than making lists! I have many more lists like this in my book Master Lists for Writers: Thesauruses, Plots, Character Traits, Names, and More. I think it’s a great tool for making “show don’t tell” easier and for inspiration during every part of the writing process. Check it out!

Thank you so much for reading, and happy writing!