as in frowning
to distort one's face
playgoers grimaced at the actor's terrible attempt at a French accent
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of grimacing
After grimacing, Daniels popped up and headed to the bench, where he was greeted by multiple athletic trainers and the team doctor.
—
Nicki Jhabvala, New York Times, 8 Dec. 2025
Nearby, a large man with a wad of cash was grimacing into a digital roulette machine.
—Adam Iscoe, New Yorker, 24 Nov. 2025
Wentz was noticeably grimacing throughout the majority of the game.
—Chantz Martin, FOXNews.com, 24 Oct. 2025
After taking a fastball on the knee in the fifth game of the series, outfield veteran George Springer returned to the starting lineup on Sunday and was noticeably limping and grimacing during his at-bats.
—Peter Chawaga, MSNBC Newsweek, 20 Oct. 2025
In the new logo, which the university said was designed in-house, the mascot's grimacing expression is the same, but his fists are down.
—Andrew Greif, NBC news, 21 Aug. 2025
But while running in from third to score, Abreu began grimacing and was removed from the game the following inning.
—Mac Cerullo, Boston Herald, 17 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for grimacing
Verb
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One mask depicts a frowning hobo with a 5 o'clock shadow that represents the aforementioned vagrant.—
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Derek Hinkey’s character, the Shoshone warrior Red Feather, is almost always frowning at white settlers, looking undeniably foreboding with his face slathered in black paint and galloping on horseback into battle.—
Verb
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Now our favorite scowling friend is getting his own movie, too.—
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In terms of my entry point to him, just understanding that this wasn’t a monster that was going to be scowling in the shadows and looking for any opportunity to hurt someone.—
Verb
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Below-average play is often staring you right in the face while catastrophe lurks around the corner.—
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The face in question, below, involves Sherman staring with her mouth agape.—
Verb
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The smirking beagle has haunted me all holiday season.—
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The smirking Nabokov is tiresome.—
Verb
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Even the epithets for the Kansas City Chiefs are built on divisional rivalry and that team’s long track record of success, not sneering dismissiveness.—
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Pluribus, despite its own existence as a piece of populist fiction, depicts all the readers of Carol’s Wycaro books from the perspective of her sneering disdain.—
Cite this Entry
“Grimacing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/grimacing. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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