simper
Syllables: sim·perUK/ˈsɪmpə//ˈsɪmpɚ/
simper verb: to smile in a foolish, frivolous, self-conscious, coy, obsequious, or smug manner.
Verb
simper (third-person singular simple present simpers, present participle simpering, simple past and past participle simpered)
- To smile in a foolish, frivolous, self-conscious, coy, obsequious, or smug manner.
- How the fools kotowed and simpered while I looked over their jewels and speculated upon how much I could get for them!1915, Harold MacGrath, chapter 24, in The Voice In The Fog
- a whimpering, simpering child1940, “Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered”, Lorenz Hart (lyrics), Richard Rodgers (music)
- To glimmer; to twinkle.
- Yet can I mark how stars above / Simper and shine.1633, George Herbert, The Search
Noun
simper (plural simpers)
- A foolish, frivolous, self-conscious, or affected smile; a smirk.
- Yes, another world it was, when these black ruins, white in their new mortar and fresh chiselling, first saw the sun as walls, long ago. Gauge not, with thy dilettante compasses, with that placid dilettante simper, the Heaven's—Watchtower of our Fathers, the fallen God's—Houses, the Golgotha of...1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “Ch. 2, St. Edmundsbury”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book II (The Ancient Monk)
- He paused, and then a strange expression appeared on his lips. It was very like a simper.1972, Eric Ambler, The Levanter, published 2009, →ISBN, page 158
Proper noun capitalized: Simper
Simper (plural Simpers)
- A surname.
simper meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
simper in Tamil
- பசப்புச் சிரிப்பு
simper in Urdu
- کھسیائی ہنسی, مسکرانا
simper in Bengali
- বোকার মতো, কৃত্রিমভাবে হাসা
simper in Malayalam
- smile affectedly, smile coquettishly, look coy
- കൃത്രിമമായി പുഞ്ചിരിതൂകുക, ഇളിഭ്യച്ചിരി ചിരിക്കുക, ഇളിക്കുക, പരിഹാസ്യമായി ചിരിക്കുക, കാമവിലാസം കാട്ടുക, ശൃംഗാരച്ചിരി ചിരിക്കുക
More languagesFewer languages
- simper in Kannada
- ಹುಸಿನಗೆ ನಗು, ಕೃತಕನಗೆ ಬೀರು, ಪೆದ್ದುನಗೆ ನಗು
Forms of simper
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | simpers |
| present participle | simpering |
| past participle | simpered |
| past | simpered |
| Noun | |
| plural | simpers |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Simpers |
Origin of simper
Uncertain; compare (probably from) Danish simper / semper (“coy”), German zimper (“elegant, dainty”).
Variant of Semper.
Words formed from simper
Words that rhyme with simper
Questions about simper
- What does simper mean?
- Simper means to smile in a foolish, frivolous, self-conscious, coy, obsequious, or smug manner.
- What is simper in Tamil?
- Simper in Tamil is பசப்புச் சிரிப்பு. See Simper meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is simper?
- Simper can be a verb, a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce simper?
- Simper is pronounced /ˈsɪmpə/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of simper?
- The past tense of simper is simpered.
Words near simper in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: simper (page history and authors); Simper (page history and authors); simper (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); simper (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); simper (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); simper (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); simper (Kannada 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: en-us-simper.ogg.
Cite this entry: “simper.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/simper. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.