100 words for facial expressions

8/10/2019 100 Words for Facial Expressions

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100 Words for Facial ExpressionsBy Mark Nichol

Face it sometimes you must give your readers acountenance-based clue about what a character or asubject is feeling. First try conveying emotions indirectly

or through dialogue, but if you must fall back on adescriptive term, try for precision:

1. Absent : preoccupied2. Agonized : as if in pain or tormented3. Alluring : attractive, in the sense of arousing desire4. Appealing : attractive, in the sense of encouraginggoodwill and/or interest5. Beatific : see blissful 6. Bilious : ill-nat ured7. Black : angry o r sa d, or see host ile

8. Bleak : see grim and hopeless 9. Blinking : surprise, or lack of concern10. Blissful : showing a state of happiness or divine contentment

11. Blithe : carefree, lighthearted, or heedlessly indifferent12. Brooding : see anxious and gloomy 13. Bug eyed : frightened or surprised14. Chagrined : humiliated or disappointed15. Cheeky : cocky, insolent16. Cheerless : sad17. Choleric : hot-tempered, irate18. Coy : flirtily playful, or evasive19. Crestfallen : see despondent 20. Darkly : with depressed or malevolent feelings21. Deadpan : expressionless, to conceal emotion or heighten humor22. Dejected : see despondent 23. Derisive : see sardonic 24. Despondent : depressed or discouraged

25. Doleful : sad or afflicted26. Dour : stern or obstinate; see also despondent 27. Downcast : see despondent 28. Dreamy : distracted by daydreaming or fantasizing29. Ecstatic : delighted or entranced30. Etched : see fixed 31. Faint : cowardly, weak, or barely perceptible32. Fixed : concentrated or immobile33. Furtive : stealthy34. Gazing : staring intently35. Glancing : staring briefly as if curious but evasive36. Glaring : see hostile 37. Glazed : expressionless due to fatigue or confusion38. Gloomy : see despondent and sullen 39. Glowering : annoyed or angry40. Glowing : see radiant 41. Grim : see despondent ; also, fatalistic or pessimistic42. Grave : serious, expressing emotion due to loss or sadness43. Haunted : frightened, worried, or guilty44. Hopeless : depressed by a lack of encouragement or optimism45. Hostile : aggressively angry, intimidating, or resistant46. Hunted : tense as if worried about pursuit47. Impassive : see deadpan 48. Inscrutable : mysterious, unreadable49. Jeering : insulting or mocking50. Languid : lazy or weak51. Leering : see meaningful ; also, sexually suggestive52. Meaningful : to convey an implicit connotation or shared secret53. Mild : easygoing

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54. Mischievous : annoyingly or maliciously playful55. Moody : see sullen 56. Pained : affected with discomfort or pain57. Pallid : see wan 58. Peering : with curiosity or suspicion59. Peeved : annoyed60. Petulant : see cheeky and peeved 61. Pitying : sympathetic62. Pleading : seeking apology or assistance63. Pouting : see sullen 64. Quizzical : questioning or confused

65. Radiant : bright, happy66. Roguish : see mischievous 67. Sanguine : bloodthirsty, confident68. Sardonic : mocking69. Scornful : contemptuous or mocking70. Scowling : displeased or threatening71. Searching : curious or suspicious72. Set : see fixed 73. Shamefaced : ashamed or bashful74. Slack-jawed : dumbfounded or surprised75. Sly: cunning; see also furtive and mischievous 76. Snarling : surly77. Sneering : see scornful 78. Somber : see grave

79. Sour : unpleasant80. Stolid : inexpressive81. Straight-faced : see deadpan 82. Sulky : see sullen 83. Sullen : resentful84. Taunting : see jeering 85. Taut : high-strung86. Tense : see taut 87. Tight : see pained and taut 88. Unblinking : see fixed 89. Vacant : blank or stupid looking90. Veiled : see inscrutable 91. Wan : pale, sickly; see also faint 92. Wary : cautious or cunning93. Wide eyed : frightened or surprised94. Wild eyed : excited, frightened, or stressful95. Wistful : yearning or sadly thoughtful96. Withering : devastating; see also wrathful 97. Woeful : full of grief or lamentation98. Wolfish : see leering and mischievous 99. Wrathful : indignant or vengeful100. Wry : twisted or crooked to express cleverness or a dark or ironic feeling

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11 Responses to 100 Words for Facial Expressions

Lucia on January 28, 2012 1:06 pm

Hello! I loved this post!I read your blog on a regular basis because Im a writer as well. I just wanted to tell you something: whydont you put Google + buttons so I can +1 your articles? I dont have Twitter or Facebook and I want toshow my appreciation. Thanks!

Francisco Luciano Fernandes on January 28, 2012 2:32 pm

Hi Mark Nichol,

Its a good tuition. Thanks.Could you please tell those words that spell the kind of smells are there in the vocabulary?

Shalanna Collins on January 28, 2012 4:18 pm

This is fine, as far as it goes, but most critique groups land squarely on me for using ANY form of helooked wolfish or he grinned wolfishly (which is, admittedly, an adverb). They want alternatives to hegrinned and he smiled and he ran his hands back through his hair. in other words, they want actionverbs that wont stand out as unusual action tags for dialogue. The problem there is that you can getoutlandish. He jumped off the Empire State Building into the waiting nets or he landed the plane in theEast River, frex.

So you still have a few problems even if you have a list like this.

As for smells, Francisco, smells can be fresh, smoky, rotten, searing, and sulfuric . . . among other things.Look around the Web and youll probably find a list.

Agus Satoto on January 29, 2012 7:41 am

I am surprised that one piece of FACE can wear so many expressions, including expressionless face! I waswondering how many VERBS can be used to express what can be done by FINGERS and HAND pinch,press, pick . shake, rub, touch, hold

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Jason Shechtman on January 30, 2012 7:31 pm

This is a great list! I have never even heard half of these words spoken out loud before! Fun read,though

Karen Cioffi on February 01, 2012 4:21 pm

What a great list. Thanks for sharing. I like the comment about using wolfish also.

Ill be linking to this post.

Mark MacKay on February 02, 2012 6:24 pm

HaughtyBuzzedHornyPrickly (unrelated to previous word)


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C. L. Manges on February 07, 2012 3:21 am

Nice list, but I think someone may say that the use of such terms is telling, not showing.

For a change of pace, I try to use descriptions, e.g., The corners of her mouth twisted.

Its easy to come up with these; just be visual instead of what adverbial?

His eyebrows arched. She pressed her lips together.

You get the idea.

Unpublished Guy on February 14, 2012 11:54 am

@CL Manges, how is saying his eyebrows arched or she pressed her lips together make anything anybetter. Ive read so many characters with hyperactive eyebrows at this point, Id much rather read about acharacters bug eyed face.

Garriga on March 06, 2012 4:52 am

Thanks for the list.

IMO using these words in a subtle manner that flows with the writers style could paint a picture for theaudience. However if a word stands out, or if the narrator would not use the word then slash it.Sometimes simple is better.

Erica on September 16, 2013 3:21 am

Thanks for the list.

One of my readers, though, is stickler for the strictest form of showing not telling. So if I say someone hasa wry expression on his face, hell say Thats telling. What does a wry expression LOOK like?

So to please this sort of critter, Im sort of stuck with things like the corners of his mouth drooped, or oneside of his mouth twitched upwards, or his eyebrows shot up etc.

Problem is, these basic descriptions of mouth, eye and eyebrow position start to sound repetitive after awhile (like those hyperactive eyebrows someone mentioned upthread). And of course, raised eyebrowscan indicate surprise, alarm, skepticism etc. A twitching cheek can indicate anger, worry etc. Context canhelp some of the time, but not always.

I usually write in limited third or first pov, so I dont think its necessarily wrong to interpret anexpression as your pov character interprets it, rather than just using an external camera to catalogfacial expression as pure, objective description. I think its probably good to mix it up, though. Sometimesa more elaborate description of someones posture, expression, mannerisms is in order, other times itsbetter to breeze through a description more quickly.

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100 words for facial expressions

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