smile
/ˈsmaɪl/
smile noun: a facial expression comprised by flexing the muscles of both ends of one's mouth, often showing the front teeth, without vocalisation, and in humans is a common involuntary or voluntary expression of happiness, pleasure, amusement, goodwill, or anxiety.
Noun (1)
smile (plural smiles)
- A facial expression comprised by flexing the muscles of both ends of one's mouth, often showing the front teeth, without vocalisation, and in humans is a common involuntary or voluntary expression of happiness, pleasure, amusement, goodwill, or anxiety.
- She's got a perfect smile.
- He has a sinister smile.
- Favour; propitious regard.
- the smile of the gods
- A drink bought by one person for another.
- Synonyms:
- treat
Verb
smile (third-person singular simple present smiles, present participle smiling, simple past and past participle smiled)
- To have (a smile) on one's face.
- When you smile, the whole world smiles with you.
- I don't know what he's smiling about.
- To express by smiling.
- to smile consent, or a welcome
- Mr Carlyle smiled his indulgence privately.
"My dear chap, you mustn't let your retentive memory of obscure happenings run away with you," he remarked wisely.1914, Ernest Bramah, Max Carrados
- To express amusement, pleasure, or love and kindness.
- When last I saw thy young blue eyes, they smiled.1816, Lord Byron, “Canto III”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Canto the Third, London: […] [F]or John Murray, […], →OCLC, stanza I
- To look cheerful and joyous; to have an appearance suited to excite joy.
- The sun smiled down from a clear summer sky.
- To be propitious or favourable; to countenance.
- The gods smiled on his labours.
- Of ackee fruit: to open fully, indicating that it is no longer toxic, and ready to be picked.
- The fruit looks a bit like a large pink mango or guava, until it has ripened. Then it “smiles,” bursting open, exposing yellow meat with black seeds.2003, Jessica B. Harris, Beyond Gumbo: Creole Fusion Food from the Atlantic Rim, page 20
Noun (2) capitalized: SMILE
SMILE (uncountable)
- Abbreviation of small incision lenticule extraction: corrective eye surgery in which a femtosecond laser photodisrupts ("carves") a lenticule of tissue within the corneal stroma that is then extracted through a small arc-shaped incision in the side of the cornea.
smile meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
smile in Hindi
- a happy face expression using mouth, but without producing voice
- मुस्कान muskān, मुसकुराहट muskurāhaṭ, स्मित smit, तबस्सुम tabassum
- to have a smile on one's face
- मुस्काना muskānā, मुस्कुराना muskurānā
smile in Tamil
- a happy face expression using mouth, but without producing voice
- புன்னகை puṉṉakai
smile in Marathi
- to have a smile on one's face
- हास्य hāsya
smile in Urdu
- a happy face expression using mouth, but without producing voice
- مُسْکُرَاہَٹ muskurāhaṭ, تَبَسُّم tabassum, مُسْکان muskān
- to have a smile on one's face
- مُسْکُرَانا muskurānā, مُسْکانا muskānā
More languagesFewer languages
- smile in Bengali
- হাসি haśi
- smile in Telugu
- చిరునవ్వు cirunavvu
- smile in Malayalam
- പുഞ്ചിരി puñciri, ചിരി ciri, മന്ദഹാസം mandahāsaṁ, മന്ദസ്മിതം mandasmitaṁ
- smile in Kannada
- ನಗೆ nage
- smile in Punjabi
- ਮੁਸਕਾਨ muskān, مُسْکاݨ muskāṇ
- smile in Gujarati
- સ્મિત smit, મલકવું malakvũ
- smile in Sanskrit
- स्मित smita, मंदहास maṃdahāsa, स्मयते smayate
- smile in Sinhala
- හිනාව hināwa, සිනහව sinahawa, හිනා වෙනවා hinā wenawā
- smile in Nepali
- मुस्कान muskān, मुस्कुराउनु muskurāunu, मुस्काउनु muskāunu
- smile in Pashto
- تبسم tabasóm, موسکا moskã, تبسم کول tabasóm kawǝ́l, مسکا کول mǝskā kawǝ́l
- smile in Tagalog
- ngiti, ngumiti
- smile in Arabic
- اِبْتِسَامَة ibtisāma, بَسْمَة basma, تَبَسُّم tabassum, اِبْتَسَمَ ibtasama
- smile in Malay
- senyum, tersenyum
- smile in Indonesian
- senyum, senyuman, tersenyum
- smile in Persian
- لَبْخَنْد labxand, پوزْخَنْد pōzxand, تَبَسُّم tabassum, لبخند زدن labxand zadan
- smile in Thai
- รอยยิ้ม rɔɔi-yím, ยิ้ม yím
- smile in Vietnamese
- cười, cười mỉm
- smile in Myanmar
- အပြုံး a.prum:, ပြုံး prum:
Examples of smile in a sentence
- She had a smile on her face.
- He always puts a smile on my face.
- She smiles a beautiful smile.
- Cooke's maid[…]Miss Thorn greeted her with a smile which greatly prepossessed us in her favor.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company...
- Once I was a young man / And all I thought I had to do was smile1969, Mike d'Abo, “Handbags & Gladrags”, performed by Rod Stewart:
- If a man smiles all the time he's probably selling something that doesn't work.1997, George Carlin, Brain Droppings, New York: Hyperion Books, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 70:
Synonyms of smile
Forms of smile
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | smiles |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | smiles |
| present participle | smiling |
| past participle | smiled |
| past | smiled |
Origin of smile
From Middle English smilen (“to smile”), from Middle Low German *smîlen (“to smile”), from Middle High German smielen, from Old High German smielēn, from Proto-West Germanic *smīlēn, from Proto-Germanic *smīlāną (“to smile”), from Proto-Indo-European *smey- (“to laugh, be glad, wonder”). Cognate with Danish smile, Swedish smila, Faroese smíla (“to smile”); also Saterland Frisian smielje (“to smile”), Low German smielen (“to smile”), Dutch smuilen (“to smile”), Middle High German smielen (“to smile”). Related also to Old High German smierōn (“to smile”), Old English smerian (“to laugh at”), Old English smercian, smearcian ("to smile"; > English smirk), Latin mīror (“to wonder at”).
Words formed from smile
- aftersmile
- archaic smile
- autogynesmile
- besmile
- Botox smile
- Chelsea smile
- countersmile
- crack a smile
- Duchenne smile
- Glasgow smile
- half smile
- Kool-Aid smile
- Land of Smiles
- liquidity smile
- nonsmile
- Pan-Am smile
- permasmile
- plumber's smile
- semi-smile
- semismile
- shit-eating smile
- smileful
- smileless
- smilelike
- smile line
- smileproof
- smiles and giggly
- smile school
- smilet
- smiley
- smilie
- smilish
- subsmile
- vertical smile
- wipe the smile off someone's face
- smile a thousand smiles
- smile-smirk
- bite and smile
- outsmile
- oversmile
- smile from ear to ear
- smile like a mule eating briars
- Smiler
- smiling death
- smize
- the gods smile on someone
- unsmiled
Phrases with smile
Words that rhyme with smile
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- gentile
- kyle
- reptile
- sile
- Lyle
- tile
- while
- beguile
- bile
- Nile
- spile
- argyll
- awhile
- enisle
- guile
- gyle
- I'll
- last mile
- nubile
- resile
- restyle
- rile
- senile
- stile
- vile
- autogynephile
- bewile
- chile
- chyle
- Cnile
- District of Argyle
- heil
- ile
- interfile
- isle
- Japanophile
- Kabyle
- kile
- like it's going out of style
- Persophile
- redial
- refile
- revile
- Styal
- thyle
- tickler file
- wile
- worthwhile
Questions about smile
- What does smile mean?
- Smile means a facial expression comprised by flexing the muscles of both ends of one's mouth, often showing the front teeth, without vocalisation, and in humans is a common involuntary or voluntary expression of happiness, pleasure, amusement, goodwill, or anxiety.
- What is smile in Hindi?
- Smile in Hindi is मुस्कान (muskān), मुसकुराहट (muskurāhaṭ), स्मित (smit). See Smile meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use smile in a sentence?
- She had a smile on her face.
- What part of speech is smile?
- Smile can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce smile?
- Smile is pronounced /ˈsmaɪl/.
- What is the plural of smile?
- The plural of smile is smiles.
Words near smile in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: smile (page history and authors); SMILE (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-smile.ogg.
Cite this entry: “smile.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/smile. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.