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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.
Examples of visage in a Sentence
Yelena Moroz Alpert, Architectural Digest, 15 May 2025
Her makeup included a serene visage with smokey eyes and a glossy lip.
—Julia Teti, Footwear News, 5 May 2025
But when the season ends, the lasting visage around the program might belong to Kevin Willard — despite his protests.
—Edward Lee, Baltimore Sun, 25 Mar. 2025
D’Arcy’s makeup featured a natural, clean visage, while their hair was slicked back for a modern, edgy appearance.
—Julia Teti, WWD, 7 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for visage
Cite this Entry
“Visage.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/visage. Accessed 27 May. 2025.
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visage
noun
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