to smile in a conceited, knowing, or annoyingly complacent way
Origin of smirk
Middle English smirken from Old English smearcian, to smile a smile of this kind
Devon smirked when he made the final move to checkmate his father in the chess game.
- The definition of a smirk is a conceited or arrogant smile or facial expression.
An example of a smirk is the conceited smile you might get after you have just defeated an opponent.
- To smirk is to make a conceited and arrogant facial expression or to smile in an arrogant way.
When you give an arrogant smile after defeating your opponent, this is an example of a smirk.
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smirk
Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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smirk
intransitive verb
smirked, smirk·ing, smirksTo smile in an annoying self-satisfied manner.
noun
An annoying self-satisfied smile.
Origin of smirk
Middle English smirken from Old English smercian to smile ; see smei- in Indo-European roots.Related Forms:
- smirk′er
noun
- smirk′ing·ly smirk′i·ly
adverb
- smirk′y
adjective
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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Noun
(plural smirks)
Verb
(third-person singular simple present smirks, present participle smirking, simple past and past participle smirked)
- To smile in a way that is affected, smug, insolent or contemptuous.
Adjective
(comparative more smirk, superlative most smirk)
Origin
Cf. Middle High German smielen/smieren (“to smile") (> obsolete, rare German schmieren).
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
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"Smirk." YourDictionary. LoveToKnow. www.yourdictionary.com/Smirk.
APA Style
Smirk. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Smirk
Sentence Examples
- The lack of background music is a little disappointing, but the "crunching" sound effect that comes out each time the worm munches on a word surely will elicit a smirk or a smile on a fairly regular basis.
- I saw my soon to be husband standing waiting for me with a smirk on his face and I took my place beside him at the alter, the world seemed a perfect place for a split second.
- Fun and funny aren't necessarily the same costumes, but there are plenty of ideas out there to make people smirk this Halloween.
- Capture Tink's mischievous smirk or one of her engaging smiles and place the tattoo somewhere you are bound to enjoy it.
- Just then Fred returned, a mile-wide smirk on his face, a ream of papers clutched in his hand.
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