visage

noun

vis·​age ˈvi-zij 

1

: the face, countenance, or appearance of a person or sometimes an animal

2

: aspect, appearance

the grimy visage of a mining town

Did you know?

In “Ozymandias,” Percy Bysshe Shelley’s famous poem, a traveller tells of a colossal statue’s “shattered visage” lying half sunk in desert sands, going on to describe its “frown / And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command…” Now, Shelley could have simply chosen face over the more highfalutin synonym visage, but not only would face shatter the sonnet’s iambic pentameter, but a formal-sounding word is sometimes preferable to a basic one for all kinds of reasons, including sound, tone, or simply the cut of its jib. Physiognomy, for instance, refers to facial features thought to reveal qualities of temperament or character, as when Emily Brontë writes in Wuthering Heights, “I thought I could detect in his physiognomy a mind owning better qualities than his father ever possessed.” Countenance, meanwhile, is often used to refer to the face as an indication of mood or emotion, as in Bram Stoker’s Dracula: “Mina struggled hard to keep her brave countenance.” As all of these quotes attest, when it comes to wordsmithery, sometimes you’ve just got to vamp.

Synonyms

• cast
• countenance
• expression
• face
• look

Examples of visage in a Sentence

an old man with a noticeably happy visage

visitors to the mountain range had long noted that the natural rock formation bore a striking resemblance to the visage of a man

Recent Examples on the Web

There was the visage of vindication for a city of underdogs. —Brooks Kubena, The Athletic, 2 Aug. 2024

The black soap and wax on ceramic tile portrait is from a series that is far more visceral than Johnson’s previous work, carving into the waxy surface as if to erase rather than build the visage. —Natasha Gural, Forbes, 25 Oct. 2024

The handsome visage that’s on full display in Apple’s Sugar has been replaced with a scared face, receding hairline, and a beak nose. —Lynette Rice, Deadline, 18 Sep. 2024

Consider the case of Mickey Mouse, whose funny, sunny visage has come to the rescue at least once before. —Lynn Yaeger, Vogue, 27 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Anglo-French, from vis face, from Latin visus sight, from vidēre to see — more at wit

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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Kids Definition

visage

noun

vis·​age ˈviz-ij 

1

: the face

also : an expression of the face

2

: the outward appearance of a person, animal, or thing