as in to grimace
to smile in an unpleasant way because you are pleased with yourself, glad about someone else's trouble, etc.
She tried not to smirk when they announced the winner.
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Recent Examples of smirk
Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 30 Oct. 2024
Throughout her performance, the camera panned over NBA fans and even some of the players smirking while trying to keep a straight face.
—Amber Corrine, VIBE.com, 25 Oct. 2024
Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 23 Oct. 2024
Fans on livestreams relentlessly commented on her smirk.
—Bryan West, USA TODAY, 21 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for smirk 
Verb
And there’s no doubt that the graceless, smirking way she was treated in the media supports that.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 30 Oct. 2024
Throughout her performance, the camera panned over NBA fans and even some of the players smirking while trying to keep a straight face.
—Amber Corrine, VIBE.com, 25 Oct. 2024
Noun
And so the two men, wielding their mockery, make a show of each chortle and smirk.
—Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 23 Oct. 2024
Fans on livestreams relentlessly commented on her smirk.
—Bryan West, USA TODAY, 21 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for smirk
Recent Examples of Synonyms for smirk
Noun
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Whatever happened to common courtesies in lieu of belittlements, sneers or vilification?Armstrong Williams, Baltimore Sun, 3 Nov. 2024
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The Wilfried Zaha mural at Selhurst Park (The Athletic) What has never changed are the gripes and sneers that have attached themselves to this part of SE25, in the London borough of Croydon, for longer than Palace fans would probably wish to remember.Daniel Taylor, The Athletic, 28 Aug. 2024
Verb
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No one gave him a talk on how to react when people stare at him walking through an airport or dropping his head to get through a doorway.Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 8 Dec. 2024
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Doug Brown, director of stewardship at the Berkshire Natural Resources Council, a nonprofit that maintains nearly 14,000 acres of wild land and over 60 miles of trails in this western Massachusetts county, stares into the distant haze, shielding his eyes from the sun.Sophie Ungerleider, The Christian Science Monitor, 6 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Could anyone utter these lofty words today without courting a chorus of snickers, a social-media immolation?George Packer, The Atlantic, 5 Nov. 2024
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Sugar might have caught its share of snickers when its big plot twist was revealed, but Colin Farrell is a huge movie star who carried that show, and that should be enough to give him the edge.Joe Reid, Vulture, 13 July 2024
Verb
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But no one's prepared to sit there and yell across the table at some other person while Tom Selleck is sitting at the head of the table scowling at you.Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 13 Dec. 2024
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Dali wore a black puffer jacket with a gold zipper at her arraignment in Brooklyn Federal Court, scowling at collected media in the gallery and repeatedly whispering to her lawyer, Michael Schneider, of the Federal Defenders.John Annese, New York Daily News, 5 Dec. 2024
Noun
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The tribal leader sniggers; a trade with foreign infidels is inconceivable.Bing West, Foreign Affairs, 1 Sep. 2011
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This offbeat comedy, which originally ran from 2007-10, thrives on less explicit social tensions: sniggers behind the back and raised eyebrows at the dinner table.The Economist, The Economist, 26 Dec. 2019
Verb
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If a fake time limit is being used, that’s often frowned upon by insiders who would shame those developers undertaking such an unseemly route.Lance Eliot, Forbes, 8 Dec. 2024
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Billionaire investor Paul Tudor Jones last month said a swelling national debt under Trump would be frowned upon by the bond market.Bryan Mena, CNN, 22 Nov. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near smirk
Cite this Entry
“Smirk.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/smirk. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.
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