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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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of smirk
Alec Lewis, New York Times, 8 Apr. 2025
Before the attempt, St. Clair talked to Martinez before the PK; Martinez smirked back at him.
—Andy Greder, Twin Cities, 6 Apr. 2025
Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 11 Apr. 2025
The fifth season began with the smirk seen ’round the globe, pitting June Osborne (Moss) against Serena Joy Waterford (Yvonne Strahovski).
—Jackie Strause, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for smirk
Verb
Twenty minutes into his early morning media session last week at the NFL league meeting in Palm Beach, Fla., Kevin O’Connell smirked.
—Alec Lewis, New York Times, 8 Apr. 2025
Before the attempt, St. Clair talked to Martinez before the PK; Martinez smirked back at him.
—Andy Greder, Twin Cities, 6 Apr. 2025
Noun
Little things, like the close-ups of Moss’s face with her little smirk, used so frequently as to lose all meaning, began to irritate me.
—Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 11 Apr. 2025
The fifth season began with the smirk seen ’round the globe, pitting June Osborne (Moss) against Serena Joy Waterford (Yvonne Strahovski).
—Jackie Strause, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for smirk
Recent Examples of Synonyms for smirk
Noun
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His voice—typically pitched between a bellow and a sneer—was instantly recognizable to the couple that night.—
Air Mail,
Air Mail,
3 May 2025
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In a movie climate where remakes tend to draw sneers of derision and claims that people have just gotten too lazy to invent anything new, Disney’s remakes of its own products are always a chief target.—
Stephanie Zacharek,
TIME,
21 Mar. 2025
Verb
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Meanwhile, Cauley was staring at a long road to recovery.—
Kendall Capps,
MSNBC Newsweek,
31 May 2025
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Things began to get chippy in the bottom half of the fifth after OSU’s Trent Caraway stared Sloan down after drawing a two-out walk.—
Alyssa Cooper,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
31 May 2025
Noun
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League sources stifle their snickers in public while privately marveling at the owner’s ceaseless stupidity. 3.—
Jeff Howe,
The Athletic,
24 Jan. 2025
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So he must be placed in the Apparition section, next to ghosts like John Barron, sharing a snicker with Ivana.—
Greg Marotta,
New York Daily News,
12 Jan. 2025
Verb
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Editors’ Picks Fired Federal Worker Flirts on Finch Mr. Trump scowled when one of Mr. Ramaphosa’s aides, a Black woman, tried to explain that brutal crimes in general are a problem in South Africa.—
Zolan Kanno-Youngs,
New York Times,
22 May 2025
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Today, there’s no reason for the Padres to be scowling.—
Tom Krasovic,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
13 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Each time an audience member so much as sniggers or sneezes, money is docked from a prize pot of £250,000 ($330,000), the slightest noise costing them up to £10,000 ($13,000) each time.—
Alex Ritman,
Variety,
2 May 2025
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The tribal leader sniggers; a trade with foreign infidels is inconceivable.—
Bing West,
Foreign Affairs,
1 Sep. 2011
Verb
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Doctors stare at X-ray transparencies and frown, just a little.—
Paul A. Thompson,
Pitchfork,
13 May 2025
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His stat sheet — 7 of 22 from the floor for 18 points in the Thunder’s Game 3 loss — frowned.—
Luca Evans,
Denver Post,
10 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Smirk.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/smirk. Accessed 5 Jun. 2025.
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