Visages Definition & Meaning

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The word face may be a pretty generic word, but it has several high-flown synonyms. Physiognomy, for instance, refers to facial features thought to reveal qualities of temperament or character. "I thought I could detect in his physiognomy a mind owning better qualities than his father ever possessed," Emily Brontë writes in Wuthering Heights. Countenance is often used to refer to the face as an indication of mood or emotion, as Bram Stoker types in Dracula: "Mina struggled hard to keep her brave countenance." Visage can refer to the face of a person or an animal, and it can also refer to the appearance of nonliving things, as in "the dirty visage of the old abandoned factory."

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 Sendak’s Nutcracker was a pouchy-eyed self-portrait whose broad visage appears on the opening curtain welcoming the audience into his world. — Cate Mcquaid, BostonGlobe.com, 14 July 2022 That famous visage graces the cover of the August Allure issue with very long, very blonde hair styled by hairstylist Chris Appleton and a smoky eye blended to perfection by makeup artist Mario Dedivanovic. — Gabi Thorne, Allure, 8 July 2022 His money has meant Caruso’s visage has been ubiquitous on the airwaves, the radio and on mailers in voters’ mailboxes. — Los Angeles Times, 5 June 2022 His golden visage is bathed in light that moves continually, seeming to change its appearance. — Mark Jenkins, Washington Post, 23 June 2022 Finally, January Jones remained characteristically sardonic during her recent knee surgery, turning the camera on her masked, bespectacled, and hair-netted visage. — Calin Van Paris, Vogue, 19 June 2022 Reagan is the fifth first lady to have a stamp bearing her visage, following Lady Bird Johnson in 2012. — Emma Hinchliffe And Paige Mcglauflin, Fortune, 7 June 2022 Some compared the actor’s pale visage to that of a corpse. — Los Angeles Times, 23 June 2022 Across the sound in West Seattle, Cornell’s visage pops up all over the place. — Corbin Reiff, SPIN, 18 May 2022 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'visage.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.