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 simper
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
Al Capone lived as a schoolyard bully, died in a simper with a brain et by syphilis, and lives on through eternity as a cigarillo mascot and gimme film role for dark-haired white actors who want a chance to really chew some scenery.
—Paul Dailing, Chicago Reader, 21 Dec. 2017
Marley Marius, Vogue, 30 Apr. 2025
Franco is simpering when he wasn’t distracted, and while Hathaway brings a bit of spirit, most of her lines are only half-funny.
—Bill Wyman, Vulture, 28 Feb. 2025
There was Bhanu, the simpering do-nothing who was eventually put out of his misery but shouldn’t have been cast in the first place.
—Brian Moylan, Vulture, 23 May 2024
And Grant has made something of a second career out of playing charmingly louche rogues of late, smiling and simpering to perfection as the greedy backstabbing Forge.
—Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 31 Mar. 2023
Didn’t want to be a part of that simpering sorority, a keeper of that shameful secret (for so it was considered at the time), that failure.
—Alice McDermott, Harper's Magazine, 11 Sep. 2023
But Parker always meant to play the quietly cunning Southern belle as anything but simpering, describing the elder DuBois sister as a mental poker player.
—Helena Andrews-Dyer, Washington Post, 23 June 2023
Seated at a ceremonial desk in an airplane hangar, doling out portions of his kingdom to simpering Goneril (Gilmore) and Regan (Lane), this Lear wears the infuriating smirk of a glutton for praise.
—Peter Marks, Washington Post, 3 Mar. 2023
Judging by his simpering public appearances with Putin -- including one where Trump dissed his own US intelligence agencies -- these calls would be fascinating.
—Stephen Collinson, CNN, 16 Oct. 2019
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
Al Capone lived as a schoolyard bully, died in a simper with a brain et by syphilis, and lives on through eternity as a cigarillo mascot and gimme film role for dark-haired white actors who want a chance to really chew some scenery.
—Paul Dailing, Chicago Reader, 21 Dec. 2017
Verb
As divorce rates rose in the 1970s and 1980s, set off by the same shifting social mores that fueled Women’s Lib, Hollywood reacted in kind, trading simpering visions of American domesticity for lively portraits of familial distress.
—Marley Marius, Vogue, 30 Apr. 2025
Franco is simpering when he wasn’t distracted, and while Hathaway brings a bit of spirit, most of her lines are only half-funny.
—Bill Wyman, Vulture, 28 Feb. 2025
There was Bhanu, the simpering do-nothing who was eventually put out of his misery but shouldn’t have been cast in the first place.
—Brian Moylan, Vulture, 23 May 2024
And Grant has made something of a second career out of playing charmingly louche rogues of late, smiling and simpering to perfection as the greedy backstabbing Forge.
—Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 31 Mar. 2023
Didn’t want to be a part of that simpering sorority, a keeper of that shameful secret (for so it was considered at the time), that failure.
—Alice McDermott, Harper's Magazine, 11 Sep. 2023
But Parker always meant to play the quietly cunning Southern belle as anything but simpering, describing the elder DuBois sister as a mental poker player.
—Helena Andrews-Dyer, Washington Post, 23 June 2023
Seated at a ceremonial desk in an airplane hangar, doling out portions of his kingdom to simpering Goneril (Gilmore) and Regan (Lane), this Lear wears the infuriating smirk of a glutton for praise.
—Peter Marks, Washington Post, 3 Mar. 2023
Judging by his simpering public appearances with Putin -- including one where Trump dissed his own US intelligence agencies -- these calls would be fascinating.
—Stephen Collinson, CNN, 16 Oct. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for simper
Noun
-
Her long, dark hair was messily waved, hanging past her shoulders like a shawl, while her eyebrows were shaved extremely thin, leaving little room for any expression other than a sly smile.—
Kaleigh Werner,
Footwear News,
1 July 2025
-
In the second photo, the couple smile in their wedding attire while sitting in the back of a white getaway car.—
Ashlyn Robinette,
People.com,
30 June 2025
Verb
-
As the light filters through the windows, the students laugh and ask questions; there’s a creative flow in the room.—
Katy Waldman,
New Yorker,
29 June 2025
-
People eating, people laughing, people talking on the mobile.—
Oliver Kay,
New York Times,
28 June 2025
Noun
-
The ability to recite an obscure Lloyd Banks verse earned you some prideful grins or, even better, earnest assistance with your performance.—
Andre Gee,
Rolling Stone,
23 June 2025
-
Giada De Laurentiis poses with a grin on her face in an all white ensemble during the Classic.—
Raven Brunner,
People.com,
23 June 2025
Noun
-
But watching a group of roughnecks on a rig in grubby overalls moving huge, long steel pipes, Dugan's smile begins to fade to a smirk.—
Kirk Siegler,
NPR,
24 Apr. 2025
-
Modern thinkers stopped using these concepts altogether except in quotation marks, with a wink, a smirk, and a glance backward toward the unscientific past.—
Isaac Bashevis Singer,
Harpers Magazine,
26 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Simper.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/simper. Accessed 9 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share