as in to grimace
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.
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of smirk
Sydney Bucksbaum, EW.com, 24 Apr. 2025
Twenty minutes into his early morning media session last week at the NFL league meeting in Palm Beach, Fla., Kevin O’Connell smirked.
—Alec Lewis, New York Times, 8 Apr. 2025
Jackie Strause, HollywoodReporter, 17 Apr. 2025
Harrison Ford forged an archetype: the skeptical rogue, a smirk king, He Who Shot First.
—Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 22 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for smirk
Verb
But Kamilla just smirks, and Mitch lets out a sigh of relief.
—Sydney Bucksbaum, EW.com, 24 Apr. 2025
Twenty minutes into his early morning media session last week at the NFL league meeting in Palm Beach, Fla., Kevin O’Connell smirked.
—Alec Lewis, New York Times, 8 Apr. 2025
Noun
Everyone has always wondered what that smirk was all about from day one.
—Jackie Strause, HollywoodReporter, 17 Apr. 2025
Harrison Ford forged an archetype: the skeptical rogue, a smirk king, He Who Shot First.
—Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 22 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for smirk
Recent Examples of Synonyms for smirk
Noun
-
His voice—typically pitched between a bellow and a sneer—was instantly recognizable to the couple that night.—
Air Mail,
Air Mail,
3 May 2025
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In a movie climate where remakes tend to draw sneers of derision and claims that people have just gotten too lazy to invent anything new, Disney’s remakes of its own products are always a chief target.—
Stephanie Zacharek,
TIME,
21 Mar. 2025
Verb
-
In the fifth inning, the Royals were staring at another blowout loss.—
Jaylon Thompson,
Kansas City Star,
12 June 2025
-
Screenshots from a June 10 TikTok video of a black Lab puppy staring at his owner while at the store.—
Liz O'Connell,
MSNBC Newsweek,
12 June 2025
Noun
-
League sources stifle their snickers in public while privately marveling at the owner’s ceaseless stupidity. 3.—
Jeff Howe,
The Athletic,
24 Jan. 2025
-
So he must be placed in the Apparition section, next to ghosts like John Barron, sharing a snicker with Ivana.—
Greg Marotta,
New York Daily News,
12 Jan. 2025
Verb
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But the return of a mysterious young woman Sandra (Roxane Mesquida), a scowling blonde sporting a leg brace and a rock’n’roll air of disdain for her hometown’s provincialism, expands Naw’s horizons suddenly.—
Jessica Kiang,
Variety,
30 May 2025
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Smash-cut to: a scowling woman leaving a police station in a black minidress and the telltale thick eyeliner smudge of A Woman Who Doesn’t Have Her Life Together.—
Caroline Framke,
Vulture,
22 May 2025
Noun
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Each time an audience member so much as sniggers or sneezes, money is docked from a prize pot of £250,000 ($330,000), the slightest noise costing them up to £10,000 ($13,000) each time.—
Alex Ritman,
Variety,
2 May 2025
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The tribal leader sniggers; a trade with foreign infidels is inconceivable.—
Bing West,
Foreign Affairs,
1 Sep. 2011
Verb
-
It’s typically frowned upon to rely on chalk in the postseason.—
Brendan Connelly,
Boston Herald,
12 June 2025
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While that behavior is frowned upon in the major leagues, the catcher enables it by telegraphing the pitches too early.—
Jeff Fletcher,
Oc Register,
9 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Smirk.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/smirk. Accessed 18 Jun. 2025.
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