grimace Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun a contorted facial expression
face.
- she made a grimace at the prospect
verb contort the face to indicate a certain mental or emotional state
make a face; pull a face.
- He grimaced when he saw the amount of homework he had to do

F., prob. of Teutonic origin; cf. AS. grma mask, specter, Ical. grma mask, hood, perh. akin to E. grin.

A distortion of the countenance, whether habitual, from affectation, or momentary aad occasional, to express some feeling, as contempt, disapprobation, complacency, etc.; a smirk; a made-up face.
Moving his face into such a hideons grimace, that every feature of it appeared under a different distortion. Addison.
✍ "Half the French words used affectedly by Melantha in Dryden's "Marriage a-la-Mode," as innovations in our language, are now in common usa: 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.