Word.ws English Dictionary

red-faced

red-faced adjective: used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see red, face.

Adjective

red-faced (comparative more red-faced, superlative most red-faced)

  1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see red, face.
    • I suppose that nowadays the red-faced farmers, whose invariable topic (so a friendly guard who understood Welsh told me) was sheep and their prices, find their own cars or the buses more convenient than a Western Region main line for their short-distance peregrinations to market.1955 January, R. S. McNaught, “From the Severn to the Mersey by Great Western”, in Railway Magazine, page 18
    • A red-faced bird with a striking white head and underside, and black-and-white wings and tail, the Palmnut Vulture lives in tropical forested areas of Africa, often by lakes, rivers, and seashores.2004, Robin Chittenden, Birds of Prey of the World, page 31
  2. (broadly) embarrassed
    • A red-faced John edged his way quietly out of the room.
  3. (broadly) inebriate
    • Coming home late and red-faced every night from the pub is not what I expected of you.
  4. (broadly) angry
    • The customer gave a red-faced account of the argument with the waiter.
  5. (broadly) flustered
    • "I can't for the life of me think where I left the tickets!", she cried out, red-faced.
  6. (broadly) exhausted
    • He collapsed, red-faced from the effort, against the door jamb.

Forms of red-faced

comparativemore red-faced
superlativemost red-faced
alternative formredfaced

Phrases with red-faced

Questions about red-faced

What does red-faced mean?
Red-faced means used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see red, face.
What part of speech is red-faced?
Red-faced is an adjective.

Words near red-faced in the dictionary

  1. red-eye gravy
  2. red-eyed
  3. red-eyeing
  4. red-eyes
  5. red-eying
  6. red-faced
  7. red-faced cormorant
  8. red-faced cormorants
  9. red-fan parrot
  10. red-fan parrots
  11. red-fin shark

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: red-faced (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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