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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

grimace.

A contorted facial expression, often expressing contempt or pain.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈɡɹɪm.əs/UK/ɡɹɪˈmeɪs/UK, archaic/ˈɡɹɪm.əs/US/ɡɹɪˈmeɪs/US, rare
  1. A contorted facial expression, often expressing contempt or pain.

    Her face was twisted in a grimace of disgust.
  2. Affectation, pretence.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From French grimace, from Middle French grimace, from Old French grimace, grimuche, from grime (“mask”) (with the pejorative suffix -ace, from Latin -āceus), from Frankish *grīma, *grīmō (“mask”), from Proto-Germanic *grīmô (“mask, helmet”). Cognate with Old English grīma (“mask, visor, helmet, spectre, apparition”). More at grime.

verb/ˈɡɹɪm.əs/UK/ɡɹɪˈmeɪs/UK, archaic/ˈɡɹɪm.əs/US/ɡɹɪˈmeɪs/US, rare
  1. To make grimaces; to distort one's face; to make faces.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

From French grimace, from Middle French grimace, from Old French grimace, grimuche, from grime (“mask”) (with the pejorative suffix -ace, from Latin -āceus), from Frankish *grīma, *grīmō (“mask”), from Proto-Germanic *grīmô (“mask, helmet”). Cognate with Old English grīma (“mask, visor, helmet, spectre, apparition”). More at grime.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.