as in features
formal
the appearance of a person's face; a person's facial features
He and his son have the same distinctive physiognomy.
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Recent Examples of physiognomy
Differences between Genovese and Costello come down to their marriages (the former to Kathrine Narducci’s Anna, the latter to Debra Messing’s Bobbie) and the physiognomy of make-up for the men’s superficial contrasts.
—
Armond White, National Review, 21 Mar. 2025
Guston’s first comic for The Junior Times, a sparse strip drawn at age 12, introduced Little Snowball, a Black youth bearing exaggerated racial physiognomy and dialect.
—Walker Mimms, New York Times, 4 June 2024
Her husband would catch her staring clinically at his physiognomy.
—Dan Piepenbring, Harper's Magazine, 9 Jan. 2024
And, of course, there was the perennial punch line of physiognomy: sight gags, sketches, and songs that depicted Jewish bodies as misshapen and absurd.
—Jody Rosen, The New Yorker, 7 Oct. 2023
See All Example Sentences for physiognomy
Armond White, National Review, 21 Mar. 2025
Guston’s first comic for The Junior Times, a sparse strip drawn at age 12, introduced Little Snowball, a Black youth bearing exaggerated racial physiognomy and dialect.
—Walker Mimms, New York Times, 4 June 2024
Her husband would catch her staring clinically at his physiognomy.
—Dan Piepenbring, Harper's Magazine, 9 Jan. 2024
And, of course, there was the perennial punch line of physiognomy: sight gags, sketches, and songs that depicted Jewish bodies as misshapen and absurd.
—Jody Rosen, The New Yorker, 7 Oct. 2023
See All Example Sentences for physiognomy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for physiognomy
Noun
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Our expert take The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is a premium credit card with a myriad of benefits and a lower annual fee than other high-end cards with similar features.—
Meghan Hunter,
CNBC,
26 Oct. 2025
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Leaders go for the big-name software with bold promises, only to face long implementations, steep learning curves, and features that don’t match how teams actually work.—
Dennis Woodside,
Fortune,
26 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Though the serial killer in each installment of Scream is always revealed to be a different person, the phone voice has remained consistent since Jackson, now 65, took on the job back in 1996.—
Stephanie Sengwe,
PEOPLE,
30 Oct. 2025
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The person didn’t respond to further questions, and phone calls to two numbers associated with the email address went unanswered.—
Max Tani,
semafor.com,
30 Oct. 2025
Noun
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In 586 plate appearances, George Springer has hit 32 long balls (17th in MLB), tallied 84 RBIs and scored 106 runs (9th in MLB).—
Data Skrive,
New York Times,
31 Oct. 2025
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He was released from his minor league contract in July of that year after making only three appearances.—
Jon Paul Hoornstra,
MSNBC Newsweek,
31 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Physiognomy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/physiognomy. Accessed 3 Nov. 2025.
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