smirk
verb (smirk, smirks, smirked, smirking); noun (a smirk, smirks)
Everyday
- To smirk is to smile in a smug, silly or unkind way, often because you think you are cleverer than someone or are pleased about their bad luck. tree →
- A smirk is a smile like that. tree →
In the lessons
In stories a smirk tells the reader that a character is pleased with themselves, sneaky or mean, not truly friendly. In everyday life adults may say «Wipe that smirk off your face!» when a child is being cheeky. Phrases: a smug smirk, wipe the smirk off someone's face.
Examples
- The bully smirked when I dropped my books. tree →
- «I told you so,» she said with a smirk. tree →
- Wipe that smirk off your face and say sorry. tree →
- The villain smirked as he locked the door. tree →
- He tried not to smirk when the teacher got the answer wrong. tree →
- There was a little smirk on the cat's face after it stole the fish. tree →
- Her smirk showed she knew the secret. tree →
- They smirked at each other and rubbed their hands. tree →
Note
A smirk is not the same as a smile or a grin: it is usually unkind or smug. Past form smirked. Countable noun: a smirk, two smirks.
On Mova
- Trees and pragmatics of «smirk» in the school dictionary: every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- «smirk» in the school dictionary on Mova free.
This page in Markdown → https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/smirk/