Word.ws English Dictionary

facepalm

UK/ˈfeɪsˌpɑː(l)m/US/ˈfeɪsˌpɑ(l)m/

facepalm noun: a gesture of bringing one or both palms to the face, with various interpretations including exasperation, chagrin, frustration, embarrassment (one's own or vicarious), etc.

facepalm: a gesture of bringing one or both palms to the face, with various interpretations including...
Image: Joe Loong, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

facepalm (plural facepalms)

  1. A gesture of bringing one or both palms to the face, with various interpretations including exasperation, chagrin, frustration, embarrassment (one's own or vicarious), etc.
    • [Cue: William Tell Overture] [sound of Frank Zappa's “San Ber'dino” being played on Japanese instruments] [Kevin (the Muse): “Wargh! It SAID _William Tell!”] [Cantata11 (walking up with a koto): “Oof. Sorry. It's just that the girls had gotten warmed up to the other thingy...”] [Kevin: “William...1996 June 6, Amy Borden, “SG: Slackers Anonymous #14”, in bit.listserv.superguy (Usenet), retrieved 07 Feb 2017, message-ID <Pine.SGI.3.91.960606231711.21356A-100000@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu>
    • “Do you think Carl Sagan might be available?” There was a mass-facepalm. “No.” they chorused.1996 August 6, General Chaos, “SG: Slackers Anonymous #16 -- “Experienced?””, in bit.listserv.superguy (Usenet), retrieved 07 Feb 2017, message-ID <Pine.LNX.3.95.960806201148.27196D-100000@eyrie.org>

Verb

facepalm (third-person singular simple present facepalms, present participle facepalming, simple past and past participle facepalmed)

  1. To bring the palm of one’s hand to one’s face as an expression of mixed humor and disbelief, disgust or shame; for example, when one is caught off-guard with a particularly bad pun.
    • Christie blinked, then *looked* at Steven. “Do you have any idea what might be different?” “Um... No? Christie facepalmed. “Well, her hair was red this morning, right? It's blonde now. You figure it out.”1996 May 15, Jon Robertson, “SG: Remains #2 (2/2)”, in bit.listserv.superguy (Usenet), retrieved 07 Feb 2017, message-ID <199605160138.VAA00171@datasys.net>
    • “Yay! I know you! You're Nicholas Lee, the detective who got fired 'cos of us!” Nina exclaimed happily. Lee facepalmed. “Arrgh...” “Nina...” Tris muttered. “Let's quit while we're ahead, okay?”1996 May 21, Jesse Brian Taylor, “SG: Tornado Knights #10 (2/2)”, in bit.listserv.superguy (Usenet), retrieved 07 Feb 2017, message-ID <199605220257.VAA07240@goliath.vuse>
  2. To bring one’s face down to one’s cupped hand or hands.

facepalm meaning in Tamil and Malay

facepalm in Tamil

ஒருவரின் முகத்தை சங்கடம்

facepalm in Malay

bring the palm of the hand to the face
tepuk dahi

Examples of facepalm in a sentence

  • It's just that the girls had gotten warmed up to the other thingy...”] [Kevin: “William _Tell_, 11.” (facepalm)]1996 June 6, Amy Borden, “SG: Slackers Anonymous #14”, in bit.listserv.superguy (Usenet), retrieved 07 Feb 2017, message-ID...
  • According to a study by me, this generates a multibillion facepalm for the UK economy, making everyone who considers it at least eleventy hundred pounds unhappier.2012 July 3, Marina Hyde, “A lesson in Olymp-o-nomics”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 19 May 2025:

Forms of facepalm

Noun
pluralfacepalms
alternative formface-palm
alternative formface palm
Verb
third-person singular presentfacepalms
present participlefacepalming
past participlefacepalmed
pastfacepalmed

Origin of facepalm

From face + palm. Attested since at least 2001.

Words formed from facepalm

Questions about facepalm

What does facepalm mean?
Facepalm means a gesture of bringing one or both palms to the face, with various interpretations including exasperation, chagrin, frustration, embarrassment (one's own or vicarious), etc.
What is facepalm in Tamil?
Facepalm in Tamil is ஒருவரின் முகத்தை சங்கடம். See Facepalm meaning in Tamil.
How do you use facepalm in a sentence?
It's just that the girls had gotten warmed up to the other thingy...”] [Kevin: “William _Tell_, 11.” (facepalm)]
What part of speech is facepalm?
Facepalm can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce facepalm?
Facepalm is pronounced /ˈfeɪsˌpɑː(l)m/ (UK).
What is the plural of facepalm?
The plural of facepalm is facepalms.

Words near facepalm in the dictionary

  1. faceoffs
  2. FACEP
  3. Facepage
  4. facepaint
  5. facepaints
  6. facepalm
  7. facepalmed
  8. facepalming
  9. facepalms
  10. facepalmy
  11. facepaw

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: facepalm (page history and authors); facepalm (Tamil Wiktionary) (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-facepalm.wav.

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