Word.ws English Dictionary

face

UK/ˈfeɪ̯s/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/ˈfɛjs/

face noun: the front part of the head of a human or other animal, featuring the eyes, nose, and mouth, and the surrounding area.

Noun

face (plural faces)

  1. The front part of the head of a human or other animal, featuring the eyes, nose, and mouth, and the surrounding area.
    • That girl has a pretty face.
    • The monkey pressed its face against the railings.
  2. (informal, slang) One's facial expression.
    • Why the sad face?
  3. (informal, slang) A distorted facial expression; an expression of displeasure, insult, etc.
    • Children! Stop making faces at each other!
  4. (informal, slang) The amount expressed on a bill, note, bond, etc., without any interest or discount; face value.
    • MAKE Money-wholesale U.S. stamps—buy mint stamps below face. Be a dealer. Send $1.00 for two giant catalogs, refunded first order. Von Stein, Bernardsville, N.J.1966 November, “Classified Opportunity Mart: Stamp Collecting [advertisement]”, in Popular Science Monthly, volume 189, number 5, page 229
    • With certain exceptions for valuable stamps, dealers and many collectors are only willing to offer a percentage of face (80-90%). So instead, Lloyd took the sheets to work and posted a message asking if anyone wanted to buy sheets of old U.S. stamps at face.1995 January 18, Ed Jackson, “Re: US sheets -- Sell for how much?”, in rec.collecting.stamps (Usenet)
  5. (informal, slang) The mouth.
    • Shut your face!
    • He's always stuffing his face with chips.
  6. (informal, slang) Makeup; one's complete facial cosmetic application.
    • I'll be out in a sec. Just let me put on my face.
  7. (figuratively) Public image; outward appearance.
    • Our chairman is the face of this company.
    • He managed to show a bold face despite his embarrassment.
  8. (figuratively) Good reputation; standing, in the eyes of others; dignity; prestige.
    • lose face
    • save face
  9. (figuratively) Shameless confidence; boldness; effrontery.
    • You've got some face coming round here after what you've done.
    • a. 1694, John Tillotson, Preface to The Works
      This is the man that has the face to charge others with false citations.
  10. (figuratively) An aspect of the character or nature of someone or something.
    • This is a face of her that we have not seen before.
    • Poverty is the ugly face of capitalism.
  11. (figuratively) Presence; sight; front.
    • to fly in the face of danger
    • to speak before the face of God
  12. (figuratively) A person; the self; (reflexively) oneself.
    • It was just the usual faces at the pub tonight.
    • He better not show his face around here no more.
Show 15 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. (figuratively, informal) A familiar or well-known person; a member of a particular scene, such as the music or fashion scene.
    • He owned several local businesses and was a face around town.
    • Vincent was the very best dancer in Bay Ridge—the ultimate Face.1976 June 7, Nik Cohn, “Inside the Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night”, in New York Magazine
  2. (figuratively, slang) A headlining wrestler with a persona embodying heroic or virtuous traits and who is regarded as a "good guy", especially one who is handsome and well-conditioned; a baby face.
    • The fans cheered on the face as he made his comeback.
    Synonyms:
    good guy, hero
    Antonyms:
    heel
  3. The frontal aspect of something.
    • The face of the cliff loomed above them.
    • The cliff I am trying to scale is the face of Mount Roraima, an enormous sandstone mesa, or tepui.1989 May, Uwe George, “Venezuela's Islands in Time”, in National Geographic, volume 175, number 5, page 534
    Synonyms:
    foreside
    1. The numbered dial of a clock or watch; the clock face.
      • An interesting feature of the church is the invisible clock, which you can hear thumping away as you enter. Constructed in 1525, it is one of the oldest timepieces in England. It chimes the hours and the quarters, and every three hours it plays a hymn. But it has no faces.1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 163
  4. The directed force of something.
    • They turned the boat into the face of the storm.
  5. Any surface, especially a front or outer one.
    • Put a big sign on each face of the building that can be seen from the road.
    • They climbed the north face of the mountain.
  6. Any of the flat bounding surfaces of a polyhedron; more generally, any of the bounding pieces of a polytope of any dimension.
    • A cube has six faces, each of which is a square.
    Synonyms:
    facet, surface
  7. The front surface of a bat.
  8. The part of a golf club that hits the ball.
  9. The head of a lion, shown face-on and cut off immediately behind the ears.
  10. The side of the card that shows its value (as opposed to the back side, which looks the same on all cards of the deck).
  11. (uncountable) The player character, especially as opposed to minions or other entities which might absorb damage instead of the player character.
    • When playing aggro decks, hit face whenever you can; it's not worth spending your resources to try to control the board.
  12. The width of a pulley, or the length of a cog from end to end.
    • a pulley or cog wheel of ten inches face
  13. The exposed surface of the mineral deposit where it is being mined. Also the exposed end surface of a tunnel where digging may still be in progress.
  14. A typeface.
    • For the typophiles reading this, the book is attractively designed. It is set in Classic Aldine, a handsome face akin to the more popular Palatino. The designer's work is unfortunately marred by indifferent printing.1982 August 28, Mark McHarry, “A Minor Delight”, in Gay Community News, volume 10, number 7, page 12
  15. A mode of regard, whether favourable or unfavourable; favour or anger.
    • The Lord make his face shine vpon thee, and be gracious vnto thee:1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Numbers 6:25
    • My face will I turne also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place: for the robbers shall enter into it and defile it.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ezekiel 7:22

Verb

face (third-person singular simple present faces, present participle facing, simple past and past participle faced)

  1. (transitive) To position oneself or itself so as to have one's face closest to (something).
    • Face the sun.
    • Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes. The clear light of the bright autumn morning had no terrors for youth and health like hers.1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC
  2. (transitive) To have its front closest to, or in the direction of (something else).
    • Turn the chair so it faces the table.
    • He gain'd alſo with his Forces that part of Britain which faces Ireland,1670, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in The History of Britain, that Part Especially now Call’d England. […], London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for James Allestry, […] , →OCLC, page 72
  3. (transitive) To cause (something) to turn or present a face or front, as in a particular direction.
    • The croupier delicately faced her other two cards with the tip of his spatula. A four! She had lost!1963, Ian Fleming, On Her Majesty's Secret Service
  4. (transitive) To improve the display of stock by ensuring items aren't upside down or back to front and are pulled forwards.
    • I've put out the stock and broken down the boxes, it's just facing left to do.
    • In my first job, I learned how to operate a till and to face the store to high standards.
  5. (transitive) To be presented or confronted with; to have in prospect.
    • We are facing an uncertain future.
    • The railway is still vital to Jordan's export trade, but in spite of the poor quality of the road, diesel lorries are gradually robbing it of freight traffic, and anyone who can afford to fly does so rather than face the long desert journey by rail.1956 March, R. C. Blaker, “The Hedjaz Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 167
  6. (transitive) To deal with (a difficult situation or person); to accept (facts, reality, etc.) even when undesirable.
    • I'm going to have to face this sooner or later.
    • It is time the international community faced the reality: we have an unmanageable, unfair, distortionary global tax regime. It is a tax system that is pivotal in creating the increasing inequality that marks most advanced countries today […].2013 June 7, Joseph Stiglitz, “Globalisation is about taxes too”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 19
    Synonyms:
    confront, deal with
  7. (intransitive) To have the front in a certain direction.
    • The seats in the carriage faced backwards.
  8. (transitive) To have as an opponent.
    • Real Madrid face Juventus in the quarter-finals.
    • And a further boost to England's qualification prospects came after the final whistle when Wales recorded a 2-1 home win over group rivals Montenegro, who Capello's men face in their final qualifier.2011 September 2, Phil McNulty, “Bulgaria 0-3 England”, in BBC
  9. (intransitive) To be the batsman on strike.
    • Willoughby comes in to bowl, and it's Hobson facing.
  10. (dialectal, obsolete, transitive) To confront impudently; to bully.
    • Face not mee: thou haſt brau'd manie men, braue not me; I will neither bee fac'd nor brau'd.c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
    • That was it. Faced by my literary hero. Nicely faced though, he was charming throughout. And it was just as I suspected; there was no way in Hell Kurt Vonnegut would acquiesce to dinner with a bunch of moon-eyed, gooey strangers.1996, Trace Beaulieu, The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Amazing Colossal Episode Guide, Bantam, →ISBN
  11. (transitive) To cover in front, for ornament, protection, etc.; to put a facing upon.
    • a building faced with marble
    • These upper walls seem mainly to have been formed, not of sun- or fire-baked bricks, as at Gournia or Palaikastro, but of clay or rubble, coated with plaster or faced with gypsum slabs.1907, Ronald M. Burrows, The Discoveries In Crete, page 7
  12. (transitive) To line near the edge, especially with a different material.
    • to face the front of a coat, or the bottom of a dress
Show 3 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. To cover with better, or better appearing, material than the mass consists of, for purpose of deception, as the surface of a box of tea, a barrel of sugar, etc.
  2. To make the surface of (anything) flat or smooth; to dress the face of (a stone, a casting, etc.); especially, in turning, to shape or smooth the flat (transverse) surface of, as distinguished from the cylindrical (axial) surface.
  3. (slang, transitive) To smoke (as, a joint or blunt) entirely by oneself.
    • He faced that blunt in ten minutes.

Adverb

face (not comparable)

  1. (slang) Intensely.
    • He's tripping face.
    • She must be rolling face.

Phrase capitalized: FACE

FACE

  1. (mnemonic) A mnemonic phrase to help remember the order of the four spaces of a musical treble clef in order from the bottom to the top.

face meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

face in Hindi

anatomy: front part of head
चेहरा cehrā, मुखड़ा mukhṛā, मुख mukh
deal with, confront
सामना sāmnā, लोहा लेना lohā lenā

face in Tamil

anatomy: front part of head
முகம் mukam, மூஞ்சி mūñci

face in Marathi

anatomy: front part of head
चेहरा cehrā, तोंड toṇḍa
deal with, confront
सामना करणे sāmnā karṇe

face in Urdu

anatomy: front part of head
چِہْرَہ cihra, مُکھ mukh, مُکْھڑا mukhṛā
More languagesFewer languages
face in Bengali
মুখ mukh
face in Telugu
ముఖము mukhamu, మొగము mogamu
face in Malayalam
മുഖം mukhaṁ
face in Kannada
ಆನನ ānana, ಮುಖ mukha
face in Punjabi
ਮੂੰਹ mū̃h, ਚਿਹਰਾ cihrā
face in Gujarati
મુખ mukh
face in Odia
ମୁଖ mukha, ମୁହଁ muhã
face in Sanskrit
अनीक anīka, मुख mukha, वदनम् vadanam
face in Sinhala
මුහුණ muhuṇa, මූණ mūṇa
face in Assamese
মুখ mukh, মুহ muh
face in Nepali
मोहडा mohaḍā, अनुहार anuhār
face in Pashto
مخ məx, صورت surat, څېره śera, تمبيزې tambize
face in Tagalog
mukha
face in Arabic
وَجْه wajh, مُحَيًّا muḥayyan, وش wešš, وشوش wušuš, wešuš
face in Malay
muka, wajah, air muka
face in Indonesian
muka, wajah, paras, rupa
face in Persian
وَجْه vajh, روی rōy, رُخ rux, صُورَت sūrat
face in Thai
ด้านหน้า dâan-nâa, หน้า nâa, เผชิญหน้า pà-chəən-nâa, สู้หน้า
face in Vietnamese
mặt, thể diện, đối mặt, đối diện
face in Myanmar
မျက်နှာ myakhna
Dhivehi
މޫނު mūnu

Examples of face in a sentence

  • She wanted to wipe him off the face of the earth.
  • Their faces looked as if snails had slimed on them and their mothers were like great sick beasts whose byres had never been cleared.[…]’1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 7, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
  • Talking about buying below face, I've bought a lot of rolled coins at below face.2005 March 16, Cliff, “Re: This sounds like a newbie question....”, in rec.collecting.coins (Usenet):
  • As the film points out, the actor became known as “the face of Aids”.2023 October 6, Ryan Gilbey, “The double life of Rock Hudson: ‘Let’s be frank, he was a horndog!’”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
  • Like a bat he chose the night hours for his work of rapine; like a bat he struck and vanished, pouncingly, noiselessly; like a bat he never showed himself to the face of the day.1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, chapter I, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing...

All 40 example sentences with face

Synonyms of face

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of face

Forms of face

Noun
pluralfaces
Verb
third-person singular presentfaces
present participlefacing
past participlefaced
pastfaced

Past tense of face: faced

Plural of face: faces

Origin of face

From Middle English face, from Old French face, from Late Latin facia, from Latin faciēs (“form, appearance”). Doublet of facies. Displaced native onlete (“face, countenance, appearance”), anleth (“face”), from Old English anwlite, andwlita, compare German Antlitz; Old English ansīen (“face”), Middle English neb (“face, nose”) (from Old English nebb), Middle English ler, leor, leer (“face, cheek, countenance”) (from Old English hlēor), and non-native Middle English vis (“face, appearance, look”) (from Old French vis) and Middle English chere (“face”) from Old French chere. In the sense of face as in reputation, influenced by Chinese 面子 (miànzi) or 臉／脸 (liǎn), both of which mean literally the front of the head and metaphorically one's public image. See lose face.

Words formed from face

Phrases with face

175 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with face

45 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about face

What does face mean?
Face means the front part of the head of a human or other animal, featuring the eyes, nose, and mouth, and the surrounding area.
What is face in Hindi?
Face in Hindi is चेहरा (cehrā), मुखड़ा (mukhṛā), मुख (mukh). See Face meaning in Hindi.
How do you use face in a sentence?
She wanted to wipe him off the face of the earth.
What part of speech is face?
Face can be a noun, a verb, an adverb or a phrase.
How do you pronounce face?
Face is pronounced /ˈfeɪ̯s/ (UK).
What is the plural of face?
The plural of face is faces.

Words near face in the dictionary

  1. facading
  2. facadism
  3. Facchinello
  4. Facciola's sorcerer
  5. Faccombe
  6. face
  7. face ague
  8. face artist
  9. face artists
  10. face as long as a fiddle
  11. face blindness

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: face (page history and authors); FACE (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-face.ogg, en-au-face.ogg.

Cite this entry: “face.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/face. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.