Word Study
grimace
CIDE DICTIONARY
grimace, n. [F., prob. of Teutonic origin; cf. AS. gr mask, specter, Icel. gr mask, hood, perh. akin to E. grin.].
A distortion of the countenance, whether habitual, from affectation, or momentary and occasional, to express some feeling, as contempt, disapprobation, complacency, etc.; a smirk; a made-up face. [1913 Webster]
" “Half the French words used affectedly by Melantha in Dryden's “Marriage a-la-Mode,” as innovations in our language, are now in common use: chagrin, double-entendre, éclaircissement, embarras, équivoque, foible, grimace, naïvete, ridicule. All these words, which she learns by heart to use occasionally, are now in common use.”" I. Disraeli. [1913 Webster]
"Moving his face into such a hideous grimace, that every feature of it appeared under a different distortion." [1913 Webster]
grimace, v. i.
To make grimaces; to distort one's face; to make faces. H. Martineau. [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
grimace, n. & v.
--n. a distortion of the face made in disgust etc. or to amuse.
--v.intr. make a grimace.
--n. a distortion of the face made in disgust etc. or to amuse.
--v.intr. make a grimace.
Derivative
grimacer n.
Etymology
F f. Sp. grimazo f. grima fright
THESAURUS
grimace
ache, agonize, ail, anguish, blanch, blench, bob, bobble, bounce, bump, contort, declaim, deform, didder, disapprove of, distort, dither, face, falter, feel pain, feel the pangs, frown, gloom, glower, ham, ham it up, have a misery, hurt, jar, jerk, jig, jigget, jiggle, jog, joggle, jolt, jostle, knit the brow, long face, look askance at, look black, look sullen, lower, make a face, make a lip, make a moue, make a mouth, misshape, mop, mop and mow, moue, mouth, mouthing, mow, mug, out-herod Herod, overact, overdramatize, pound, pout, pull a face, quake, quaver, quiver, rant, recoil, revolt at, rictus, roar, scowl, shake, shiver, shock, shoot, show distaste for, shrink, shrink from, shudder, shudder at, smart, snarl, spout, suffer, thrill, throb, throw away, tic, tingle, tremble, tremor, twinge, twitch, twitter, underact, wince, wobble, writhe, wry face, wry mouthROGET THESAURUS
grimace
Affectation
N affectation, affectedness, acting a part, pretense boasting, charlatanism, quackery, shallow profundity, pretension, airs, pedantry, purism, precisianism, euphuism, teratology, mannerism, simagree, grimace, conceit, foppery, dandyism, man millinery, coxcombry, puppyism, stiffness, formality, buckram, prudery, demureness, coquetry, mock modesty, minauderie, sentimentalism, mauvais honte, false shame, affector, performer, actor, pedant, pedagogue, doctrinaire, purist, euphuist, mannerist, grimacier, lump of affectation, precieuse ridicule, bas bleu, blue stocking, poetaster, prig, charlatan, petit maitre, flatterer, coquette, prude, puritan, affected, full of affectation, pretentious, pedantic, stilted, stagy, theatrical, big-sounding, ad captandum, canting, insincere, not natural, unnatural, self-conscious, maniere, artificial, overwrought, overdone, overacted, euphuist, stiff, starch, formal, prim, smug, demure, tire a quatre epingles, quakerish, puritanical, prudish, pragmatical, priggish, conceited, coxcomical, foppish, dandified, finical, finikin, mincing, simpering, namby-pamby, sentimental, conceit in weakest bodies strongest works.Distortion
N distortion, detortion, contortion, twist, crookedness, grimace, deformity, malformation, malconformation, harelip, monstrosity, misproportion, want of symmetry, anamorphosis, ugliness, talipes, teratology, asymmetry, irregularity, distorted, out of shape, irregular, asymmetric, unsymmetric, awry, wry, askew, crooked, not true, not straight, on one side, crump, deformed, harelipped, misshapen, misbegotten, misproportioned, ill proportioned, ill-made, grotesque, monstrous, crooked as a ram's horn, camel backed, hump backed, hunch backed, bunch backed, crook backed, bandy, bandy legged, bow legged, bow kneed, knock kneed, splay footed, club footed, round shouldered, snub nosed, curtailed of one's fair proportions, stumpy, gaunt, bloated, scalene, simous, taliped, talipedic, all manner of ways, crooked as a Virginia fence.For further exploring for "grimace" in Webster Dictionary Online
