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Glite Dictionary
loose-toothed smile

loose-toothed smile

7.7
A smile that shows loose teeth about to fall out
  • noun
translation icon : sonrisa con dientes flojos
  • Children often have a loose-toothed smile around the age of six or seven.

Examples

  • Her loose-toothed smile charmed everyone at the birthday party.

  • That kid has such a loose-toothed smile!

  • The photograph captured his proud, loose-toothed smile after losing his first tooth.

  • Look at that loose-toothed smile!

  • The photograph captured his proud, loose-toothed smile after losing his first tooth.

  • Children often have a loose-toothed smile around the age of six or seven.

  • Her loose-toothed smile charmed everyone at the birthday party.

Surface Forms

loose-toothed smile singular
loose-toothed smiles plural

Morphology

loose-toothed + smile

The noun is a transparent adjective–noun composition: 'loose-toothed' can be parsed as 'loose' + 'toothed' (having loose teeth) and combined with 'smile' yields a smile that shows loose teeth. This is fully compositional and follows normal English compounding patterns (and similar logic exists in many languages), so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words can derive the meaning.

Etymology

Loose-toothed smile is a picture of someone, often a child, smiling with a wobbly tooth or a gap where a tooth will fall out; the words loose and toothed make that image clear. That's why it means a smile that shows teeth not firmly in place and often feels 'proud' or 'charming'.