Word.ws English Dictionary

thumbs one's nose

thumbs one's nose is the third-person singular simple present indicative of thumb one's nose.

Meaning of thumb one's nose

Verb

thumb one's nose (third-person singular simple present thumbs one's nose, present participle thumbing one's nose, simple past and past participle thumbed one's nose)

  1. To place a thumb upon the tip of the nose, typically with the fingers spread and while simultaneously wiggling one's fingers, in a gesture of disrespect.
    • My brother thumbed his nose in reply to my snide remarks.
    Synonyms:
    cock a snook
  2. (figuratively) To act disrespectfully, especially by flouting the object of disrespect.
    • Richard Feynman delighted in thumbing his nose at the dissidents and workers.

Questions about thumbs one's nose

What is thumbs one's nose the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Thumbs one's nose is the third-person singular simple present indicative of thumb one's nose.

Words near thumbs one's nose in the dictionary

  1. thumbs a ride
  2. thumbs down
  3. thumbs downs
  4. thumbs on the scale
  5. thumbs on the scales
  6. thumbs one's nose
  7. thumbs through
  8. thumbs up
  9. thumbs up, seven up
  10. thumbs ups
  11. thumbs-down

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: thumbs one's nose (page history and authors); thumb one's nose (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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