grin

/ɡɹɪn/

verb 4noun 2

Collocations

(noun.)

ADJ

boyish, cheeky, impish, mischievous, sly

The old man's cheeky grin made everyone at the table laugh during dinner.

VERB + GRIN

crack, force, give (sb)

She cracked a wide grin when she saw her surprise birthday party.

break into, split into

When she heard the joke, her face split into a huge grin.

hide, restrain, stifle

He couldn't hide his grin when he saw the surprise party waiting for him.

GRIN + VERB

broaden, grow broader/wider, widen

appear, spread across/over sth

When he heard the good news, a huge grin spread over his face.

disappear, fade

When she heard the bad news, her cheerful grin disappeared in an instant.

PREP

with a ~

She greeted her old friend at the airport with a warm grin.

~ at

She couldn't help but grin at the silly jokes her children were telling.

~ of

She couldn't hide the grin of satisfaction on her face after winning the competition.

PHRASES

take/wipe the grin off your face

He wiped the grin off his face when his boss walked into the room.

wipe the grin off sb's face

When he heard the exam results, it quickly wiped the grin off his face.

(verb.)

ADV

broadly, widely

The child grinned widely when she opened her birthday present.

sheepishly

She grinned sheepishly when her friends caught her singing in the shower.

apologetically, ruefully, wryly

He grinned ruefully as he realized he had forgotten his wallet at home.

unrepentantly | conspiratorially | wickedly | maliciously, wolfishly | sourly

back, down, up

The little boy grinned up at his mother as she lifted him onto her shoulders.

PREP

The baby started to grin at her mother when she made funny faces.

He grinned to his friend across the room when he spotted her at the party.

with

She couldn't help grinning with pride as she watched her daughter perform on stage.

PHRASES

grin from ear to ear

When he won the competition, he was grinning from ear to ear.

Definitions

noun

A smile in which the lips are parted to reveal the teeth.

When the ceremony was finished a wide grin broke across his face, and it was that grin she saw, relieved and happy all at once.

When my son appeared at the door the next day with his schoolbag on his back, the Professor broke into a wide grin and opened his arms to embrace him.

verb

To smile, parting the lips so as to show the teeth.

Why do you grin? Did I say something funny?

‘No,’ said Luke, grinning at her. ‘You're not dull enough! […] What about the kid's clothes? I don't suppose they were anything to write home about, but didn't you keep anything? A bootee or a bit of embroidery or anything at all?’

To express by grinning.

She grinned pleasure at his embarrassment.

Grinned horrible a ghastly smile.

To show the teeth, like a snarling dog.

The pangs of death do make him grin.

They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. And why else was he put away up there out of sight?—and so magnificent a brush as he had too.

To grin as part of producing a particular facial expression, such as a smile or sneer.

He grinned a broad smile when I told him the result.

He grinned a cruel sneer when I begged him to stop.

noun

A snare; a gin.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

noun — a facial expression characterized by turning up the corners

smile
smiling
grinning

Antonyms

Idioms & Phrases

shit-eating grin

A broad smile indicating self-awareness that may suggest self-satisfaction, smugness, discomfort, or embarrassment.

Near-synonym: smirk

grin and bear it

To endure a difficult or disagreeable situation with good humor.

They made me work the Saturday of our wedding anniversary; what could I say? I just had to grin and bear it.

fish-eating grin

Euphemistic form of shit-eating grin.

I had a few questions for him myself, but I just stood there and stared. He had a fish-eating grin on his face.

Example Bank

When the ceremony was finished a wide grin broke across his face, and it was that grin she saw, relieved and happy all at once.

Wiktionary

When my son appeared at the door the next day with his schoolbag on his back, the Professor broke into a wide grin and opened his arms to embrace him.

Wiktionary

Why do you grin? Did I say something funny?

Wiktionary

She grinned pleasure at his embarrassment.

Wiktionary

You could tell by the ear-to-ear grin that came to his face that he really had something to smile about.

Tatoeba · #20656

Usage Notes

i Register

In some senses, grin is marked as dated, obsolete. Watch for register when choosing this word.

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