dappy grin

9.5

A silly smile that makes someone look foolish

noun

: sonrisa tonta

She gave me a dappy grin that made everyone in the room laugh.

Examples

He couldn't stop showing a dappy grin when he won the contest.
After the prank, he walked around with a dappy grin on his face.
He has a dappy grin on his face.
Look at that dappy grin!
After the prank, he walked around with a dappy grin on his face, looking quite silly.
He couldn't stop showing a dappy grin after winning the contest, feeling excited and goofy.
She gave me a dappy grin during our fun conversation, which made everyone in the room laugh.

Synonyms

simper

vsdappy grin

1 7.5

A shy, silly smile that looks forced and not real

is an absent-minded, goofy expression rather than coy affectation

spacy smile

vsdappy grin

Informal

8.6

A smile that shows someone is lost in thought

is a silly, foolish expression rather than vacant distraction

Antonyms

sober look

1 5.1

A serious face that shows little or no emotion

How Silly

dappy grin

9.5

grin

139 1.0

smile

∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

dappy grin singular

dappy grins plural

Morphology

dappy + grin

The phrase is a straightforward adjective+noun composition: 'dappy' (silly, scatterbrained) modifies 'grin' (a smile), so the combined meaning 'a silly/goofy smile' is directly derivable from the parts. This follows a common compositional pattern, so a B1 learner who knows both constituent words would readily understand the MWE.

Etymology

Dappy grin may come from a casual word dappy that meant 'silly' or 'a little foolish', and the word grin means a smile. So the image is a loose, goofy smile, which is why it now means 'a silly or goofy smile'.