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
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
The entire final sequence, which sees Carter, with a rictus grin, slaughtering his wife in the kitchen, envisions the self-destruction of the nuclear family.
—Beatrice Loayza, Vulture, 14 Feb. 2025
McAvoy’s gift for a rictus grin and a swaggering machismo that eases you into feeling comfortable, only to twist on a 180 into pure psychopathy, is well-played here.
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 10 Sep. 2024
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
The entire final sequence, which sees Carter, with a rictus grin, slaughtering his wife in the kitchen, envisions the self-destruction of the nuclear family.
—Beatrice Loayza, Vulture, 14 Feb. 2025
McAvoy’s gift for a rictus grin and a swaggering machismo that eases you into feeling comfortable, only to twist on a 180 into pure psychopathy, is well-played here.
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 10 Sep. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rictus
Noun
-
One snap was taken from their family outing, showing the 23-year-old sitting with a smirk on his face after blowing out the candles of his cake.—
Kayla Grant,
People.com,
2 Sep. 2025
-
Alan Clarke, executive director of advanced EV development at Ford, sitting next to Field, nodded in agreement while wearing a similar smirk.—
Eileen Falkenberg-Hull,
MSNBC Newsweek,
12 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
Some state laws also prevent pharmacists from administering vaccines that haven’t been recommended by ACIP—a snarl that’s prompted pharmacies to limit access to COVID vaccines in more than a dozen states.—
Katherine J. Wu,
The Atlantic,
5 Sep. 2025
-
There’s the merchandise snarl that ensues when Cole Caufield decides to swap out his No. 22 for No. 13 to honor the memory of Johnny Gaudreau.—
Carol Schram,
Forbes.com,
23 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
Jacob sneers, but doesn’t even wait for his son to answer.—
Kimberly Roots,
TVLine,
15 Aug. 2025
-
The single, meanwhile, is ushered in with a gripping bass line and an undercurrent of keyboards until Osbourne makes his grand vocal entrance, all sneers and snarls.—
Melissa Ruggieri,
USA Today,
23 July 2025
Noun
-
And maybe, just maybe, a horseshoe-moustached, hardened rocker with a booming growl will quietly leave a grocery store tomorrow to take his mushroom mocha milk back home.—
Jason Newman,
Rolling Stone,
29 Aug. 2025
-
His first task: trying to figure out the source of the bizarre, threatening low growl picked up by the comms system.—
Keith Phipps,
Vulture,
21 Aug. 2025
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
Cite this Entry
“Rictus.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rictus. Accessed 10 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share