rictus

noun

Definition of rictusnext
as in smirk

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of rictus Holmes maintains both her innocence and her eerie smile, a rictus of empathy. — Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 14 Oct. 2026 One of the boys had turned back to the crowd, face skin twisted around wild eyes, red cheeks about to rip apart from the rictus. — Jeff Spry, Space.com, 18 May 2026 Its sheer loveliness almost completely undermines the menace of that rictus on the cover. — Sasha Geffen, Pitchfork, 21 Jan. 2026 Unlike Cesar Romero’s Joker from the child-friendly TV Batman, cheery and inane, Jack Nicholson’s version is fully monstrous—sneering and sadistic, his dead eyes obscene next to his rictus grin. — The Atlantic Culture Desk, The Atlantic, 29 Oct. 2025 There’s even the demand for NDAs and a magazine photoshoot at the enormous house, with everyone smiling their rictus grins. — Nina Metz, Chicago Tribune, 22 May 2025 Oldman’s features gradually freeze into a rictus of despair, and the lights go out. — Houman Barekat, New York Times, 28 Apr. 2025 The Mirror and the Light opens with that profoundly disturbing execution, Foy a pale rictus of fear and vulnerability as she is led to the block, where she is blindfolded and positioned before the executioner’s sword. — Taylor Antrim, Vogue, 20 Mar. 2025 With their teeth bared in a frozen rictus grin, this couple appears to be hiding a darkness which we are left only to guess at. — Naomi Fry, The New Yorker, 15 Mar. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rictus
  1. smirk
  2. snarl
  3. sneer
  4. growl
  5. simper
Noun
  • But Florida’s Halloween nightmare keeps coming back wearing a red visor, flashing that devilish smirk and getting the last laugh.
    — Mike Bianchi, The Orlando Sentinel, 31 Oct. 2026
  • The pair barely crack more than a perfunctory smirk, in stark contrast to the uproarious laughter emanating from Fielder’s laptop screen.
    — Hershal Pandya, Vulture, 21 Oct. 2026
Definition of smirk
Noun
  • In April 2025, HBO announced that Essiedu had won the role of Snape—played with an inimitable snarl in the film franchise by the late great Alan Rickman.
    — Chris Murphy, Vanity Fair, 10 Nov. 2026
  • To get to Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, take the metro (look for the brown Metro Line 9) to avoid getting entangled in traffic snarls.
    — Alan Chazaro, Condé Nast Traveler, 26 Oct. 2026
Definition of snarl
Noun
  • Dylan’s sneer and Mick Ronson’s guitar jab like fingers in some intense argument, trying to win the pyrrhic victory of a lovers’ quarrel.
    — Grayson Haver Currin, Pitchfork, 7 Nov. 2026
  • Monica Bellucci’s sneer is a thing of wonder, so why have so few directors used it properly?
    — Jay Weissberg, Variety, 8 Aug. 2026
Definition of sneer
Noun
  • In intimate groups of up to 10 women, hearing one woman growl can give another permission to do the same.
    — Tatiana Sataua, Fortune, 11 Oct. 2026
  • Lucy’s always been a hard vocalist to classify, intensely emotive but largely separate from the monster-growl arms race.
    — H.D. Angel, Pitchfork, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of growl
Noun
  • Sandoval, in comparison, sneers and simpers to no success whatsoever; his bad behavior, on and off The Traitors, yields nothing.
    — Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 20 Feb. 2025
  • Today’s announcement marks the emergence of a new GE, a high-tech industrial GE — simper, stronger, a more focused company at the core.
    — Jon Chesto, BostonGlobe.com, 26 June 2018
Definition of simper

Browse Nearby Words

ricochets
rictus
rictuses
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Cite this Entry

“Rictus.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rictus. Accessed 11 Nov. 2026.

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