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
-
That comment and a smirk from Holly pushed her over the edge.—
Ashley Vega,
PEOPLE,
25 Oct. 2025
-
As Hedda battles with herself, there’s a rage simmering underneath every smirk and every one of her bleak and destructive actions.—
Kathleen Newman-Bremang,
Refinery29,
23 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
The funding fight in Washington gained new urgency this week as millions of Americans face the prospect of losing food assistance, more federal workers miss their first full paycheck and recurring delays at airports snarl travel plans.—
Eleanor Pringle,
Fortune,
29 Oct. 2025
-
There was a snarl in his voice.—
David Wingrave,
Harpers Magazine,
24 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Anderson plunges the audience into the rebels’ point of view, immersing us in the recalcitrant pride and swagger of Perfidia Beverly Hills, a revolutionary leader played by Teyana Taylor with a hypnotic sneer of defiance.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
17 Sep. 2025
-
Jacob sneers, but doesn’t even wait for his son to answer.—
Kimberly Roots,
TVLine,
15 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
My poetry began as a father’s sly growl, became a spectacle on a rickety stage washed in limelight, and now is a 70-year-old woman’s walk back into a thousand yesterdays.—
Via Scribner,
Literary Hub,
6 Oct. 2025
-
The scents of soy, garlic, and mirin made Charlie’s stomach growl.—
Maureen Lee Lenker,
Entertainment Weekly,
19 Sep. 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 2 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share