as in grimacing
to smile in an unpleasant way because you are pleased with yourself, glad about someone else's trouble, etc.
She tried not to smirk when they announced the winner.
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Recent Examples of smirking
Linda Liddle is an office workhorse who has spent her career trying to get ahead by working late and grinding out quarterly reports through lunch at her desk, only to see the credit stolen by whatever smirking golf buddy has leapfrogged her up the corporate ladder.
—
Alison Willmore, Vulture, 30 Jan. 2026
The smirking beagle has haunted me all holiday season.
—Scottie Andrew, CNN Money, 13 Dec. 2025
The smirking Nabokov is tiresome.
—New York Times, 16 Oct. 2025
The Poets smirking at us in the garden, their coats blowing open like bat wings.
—Literary Hub, 24 Sep. 2025
Cary Grant built a career on smirking suavity; Cate Blanchett has made an art form of falling apart with tragic intensity.
—Inkoo Kang, New Yorker, 22 Sep. 2025
And Jules raises his hand, kind of smirking already.
—Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald, 20 Sep. 2025
At the other end of the bar, Don was smirking as though looking forward to the lecture Odette was going to give Charlie.
—Maureen Lee Lenker, Entertainment Weekly, 19 Sep. 2025
Colson replied with a photo of herself smirking while wearing a green jacket.
—Ryan Morik, FOXNews.com, 5 Aug. 2025
Alison Willmore, Vulture, 30 Jan. 2026
The smirking beagle has haunted me all holiday season.
—Scottie Andrew, CNN Money, 13 Dec. 2025
The smirking Nabokov is tiresome.
—New York Times, 16 Oct. 2025
The Poets smirking at us in the garden, their coats blowing open like bat wings.
—Literary Hub, 24 Sep. 2025
Cary Grant built a career on smirking suavity; Cate Blanchett has made an art form of falling apart with tragic intensity.
—Inkoo Kang, New Yorker, 22 Sep. 2025
And Jules raises his hand, kind of smirking already.
—Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald, 20 Sep. 2025
At the other end of the bar, Don was smirking as though looking forward to the lecture Odette was going to give Charlie.
—Maureen Lee Lenker, Entertainment Weekly, 19 Sep. 2025
Colson replied with a photo of herself smirking while wearing a green jacket.
—Ryan Morik, FOXNews.com, 5 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for smirking
Verb
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After grimacing, Daniels popped up and headed to the bench, where he was greeted by multiple athletic trainers and the team doctor.—
Nicki Jhabvala,
New York Times,
8 Dec. 2025
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Nearby, a large man with a wad of cash was grimacing into a digital roulette machine.—
Adam Iscoe,
New Yorker,
24 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Regardless of how the strike turns out, Laurel Lucia, deputy executive director for the Labor Center at UC Berkeley, said the health care industry in California is staring at considerable changes to its business landscape.—
Pat Maio,
Oc Register,
31 Jan. 2026
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Alessandro Michele, at Valentino, was also thinking of how to collide reality and fantasy, staging his collection in nooks inspired by the kaiser panorama, an early 20th century precursor to cinema, in which viewers sat around a circle, staring into a contraption displaying slides.—
CNN Money,
CNN Money,
30 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Grejo sank scowling back into his chair as though stung by Adi’s answer.—
Jonathan Miles,
Harpers Magazine,
27 Jan. 2026
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Their head coach, Curt Cignetti, perpetually scowling beneath his 1950s crew cut, is fuel for countless memes.—
Keith O’Brien,
The Atlantic,
17 Jan. 2026
Verb
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The men stood frowning at each other and then back at Adi until the one without the gun broke into croaks of laughter.—
Jonathan Miles,
Harpers Magazine,
27 Jan. 2026
-
Smiling can actually lift your mood, while frowning can lower it.—
Valerie Monroe,
Allure,
15 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Wasn’t blaming the losses on the players, wasn’t pouting about it.—
Pete Sampson,
New York Times,
26 Jan. 2026
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My introduction to Peters came late last year, when Instagram’s algorithm served me a video of him wearing a baseball cap, primping and pouting for the camera.—
Thomas Chatterton Williams,
The Atlantic,
19 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Smirking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/smirking. Accessed 6 Feb. 2026.
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