rictus
3
9.9
- noun
- /ˈrɪktəs/
:
rictus
- A sort of rictus seemed to have seized her, and not only her, but me, the other students, and the room itself.
Examples
-
My rictus began to thaw into a real smile.
Academic text (2011) -
His smile is a tight rictus of dingy teeth.
Fiction book (1991) -
On his face, a sad rictus smile.
Fiction book (1992) -
I tried to smile back, but as his camera later revealed, my effort came to little more than a rictus.
Academic text (2011) -
Jamie turns, her face a frozen rictus of horror.
Fiction book (1995) -
The same girl, eviscerated, eyes wide and unseeing, mouth frozen in a rictus of tortured pain.
Fiction book (1991) -
And the rictus of loathing on Mr. Buckley's face is quite understated.
-
His broad, blandly handsome features were now discolored and distorted and almost unrecognizable in a rictus of agony.
Fiction book (2000) -
The lipless mouth was pulled up in a grim rictus, a ceaseless wheezing emanating from that black maw.
Fiction book (2000) -
Old Billy was propping himself up on an elbow, his face a rictus of pain.
Synonyms
18
5.3
A twisted face that shows pain, disgust, or forced amusement
A sudden tightening of face muscles you cannot control that makes a fixed grin
How Intense
3
9.9
54
1.0
Surface Forms
Etymology
Rictus comes from the Latin rictus, which meant 'open mouth' or 'gape', so picture a mouth frozen open and showing the teeth like a forced smile. So a rictus today is that fixed, often painful or frightened grin that shows the teeth.