as in solemn
not joking or playful in mood or manner
delivered the reprimand with a harsh and unsmiling face
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Recent Examples of unsmiling
And often next to Ed, holding a single malt, there would be an unsmiling writer of great pretension looking down at you from a great height.
—
Gary Shteyngart, The Atlantic, 4 June 2025
Prima felt that there was something humiliating in Ruth’s loyalty to Thalia, and in her unsmiling scrutiny of Heiss.
—Lillian Fishman, New Yorker, 4 May 2025
The card's main feature is Trump's face — staring downwards at the camera, unsmiling — and is flanked by the Statue of Liberty, a circle of stars and Trump's signature.
—Rachel Raposas, People.com, 4 Apr. 2025
His Rick Honeycutt is utterly humorless, but the movie isn’t; there are plenty of laughs in pitting his deadpan impatience — conveyed by an unsmiling mouth under a push-broom mustache — against the idiot confidence of Billy Crudup’s man-child entrepreneur.
—A.a. Dowd, Vulture, 10 Mar. 2024
See All Example Sentences for unsmiling
Gary Shteyngart, The Atlantic, 4 June 2025
Prima felt that there was something humiliating in Ruth’s loyalty to Thalia, and in her unsmiling scrutiny of Heiss.
—Lillian Fishman, New Yorker, 4 May 2025
The card's main feature is Trump's face — staring downwards at the camera, unsmiling — and is flanked by the Statue of Liberty, a circle of stars and Trump's signature.
—Rachel Raposas, People.com, 4 Apr. 2025
His Rick Honeycutt is utterly humorless, but the movie isn’t; there are plenty of laughs in pitting his deadpan impatience — conveyed by an unsmiling mouth under a push-broom mustache — against the idiot confidence of Billy Crudup’s man-child entrepreneur.
—A.a. Dowd, Vulture, 10 Mar. 2024
See All Example Sentences for unsmiling
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unsmiling
Adjective
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Banners hang from the eaves of many houses, a solemn reminder to mark where residents were either killed or kidnapped.—
NBC News,
NBC news,
8 Oct. 2025
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Yom Kippur is the most solemn Jewish holiday, marking the end of the 10 Days of Repentance that begin with Rosh Hashanah.—
Jose R. Gonzalez,
AZCentral.com,
1 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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At Roland Park, Tupac’s English teacher was a stern woman named Thomasina Porter.—
Jeff Pearlman,
Rolling Stone,
17 Oct. 2025
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The short war in Cuba gained the United States the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico; turned the nation into a Pacific power; and created beliefs that America was a stern yet benevolent country tasked by Destiny to enforce peace and bring prosperity to the world.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
15 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Blaylock was charged with felony injury to a child with serious bodily injury, court records show.—
Charlotte Phillipp,
PEOPLE,
19 Oct. 2025
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By the eighth inning, the Mariners were facing the serious possibility of having to win both games in Toronto to take the series.—
Jamie Barton,
CNN Money,
18 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Unsmiling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unsmiling. Accessed 20 Oct. 2025.
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