Word.ws English Dictionary

grimace

/ˈɡɹɪm.əs/US/ˈɡɹɪm.əs/

grimace noun: a contorted facial expression, often expressing contempt or pain.

Noun

grimace (plural grimaces)

  1. A contorted facial expression, often expressing contempt or pain.
    • Her face was twisted in a grimace of disgust.
    • I trundle off to bed, eyes brimming, face twisted into a grateful glistening grimace, and awaken the next day wondering what all the fuss was about.2005 March, Opera News
  2. (obsolete) Affectation, pretence.
    • Zeluco considered all this as mere affectation and grimace, and was convinced that she would, in due time, unfold the particular mode in which she wished to be indemnified […].1789, John Moore, Zeluco, Valancourt, published 2008, page 105
    • Charlotte was equally insensible to all his fashionable grimace, and indifferent to his conversation.1790, Helen Maria Williams, Julia, Routledge, published 2016, page 21

Verb

grimace (third-person singular simple present grimaces, present participle grimacing, simple past and past participle grimaced)

  1. (intransitive) To make grimaces; to distort one's face; to make faces.

grimace meaning in Tamil, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali

grimace in Tamil

சுளி

grimace in Marathi

a distortion of the face
चर्या विरूपता caryā virūptā

grimace in Urdu

چڑھا منہ, تظاہر, منہ بنانا

grimace in Bengali

বিকৃত মুখভঙ্গি
More languagesFewer languages
grimace in Malayalam
മുഖവികൃതി, ഗോഷ്ടി, ഇളിപ്പ്, വിഡ്ഢിച്ചിരി
grimace in Kannada
ಸೊಟ್ಟಮೋರೆ, ಕಿವುಚು ಮೋರೆ
grimace in Sanskrit
विकार vikāra
grimace in Persian
قیافه ی خود را در هم کشیدن, روی ترش کردن

Examples of grimace in a sentence

  • He grimaced in an orkish manner.
  • He grimaced after another lash across his back and settled deeper into the post.
  • She grimaced a bit before writhing around seductively on the table.

All 33 example sentences with grimace

Forms of grimace

Noun
pluralgrimaces
Verb
third-person singular presentgrimaces
present participlegrimacing
past participlegrimaced
pastgrimaced

Plural of grimace: grimaces

Origin of grimace

From French grimace, from Middle French grimace, from Old French grimace, grimuche, from grime (“mask”) (with the pejorative suffix -ace, from Latin -āceus), from Frankish *grīma, *grīmō (“mask”), from Proto-Germanic *grīmô (“mask, helmet”). Cognate with Old English grīma (“mask, visor, helmet, spectre, apparition”). More at grime.

Words formed from grimace

Words that rhyme with grimace

45 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about grimace

What does grimace mean?
Grimace means a contorted facial expression, often expressing contempt or pain.
What is grimace in Tamil?
Grimace in Tamil is சுளி. See Grimace meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is grimace?
Grimace can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce grimace?
Grimace is pronounced /ˈɡɹɪm.əs/ (UK).
What is the plural of grimace?
The plural of grimace is grimaces.

Words near grimace in the dictionary

  1. grim trigger
  2. grim triggers
  3. grim-gram
  4. grim-grams
  5. grim-the-collier
  6. grimace
  7. grimaced
  8. grimacer
  9. grimacers
  10. grimaces
  11. grimacey

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: grimace (page history and authors); grimace (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); grimace (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Grimace (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); grimace (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); grimace (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); विकार (Sanskrit) (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-grimace.wav.

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