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Glite Dictionary
✈️ Angled backward 💇 Combed backward
sweptback

sweptback

5.5
Hair combed back away from the face
  • adjective
  • /ˈswɛptbæk/
translation icon : peinado hacia atrás
  • With her sweptback hair, she looked both elegant and confident.

Examples

  • The actor's sweptback hairstyle became his signature look in the 1950s.

  • He always kept his hair sweptback for a neat and professional appearance.

  • Her hair was styled in a sweptback fashion.

  • He looked sharp with his sweptback hairstyle.

  • He always kept his hair sweptback for a neat and professional appearance.

  • The actor's sweptback hairstyle became his signature look in the 1950s.

  • With her sweptback hair, she looked both elegant and confident.

Synonyms

backswept
vssweptback
6.3

Hair brushed back so it lies toward the back of the head

has identical meaning but uses the words in reversed order

How Sleek

slicked
1 5.7
sweptback
5.5

Surface Forms

sweptback positive

Morphology

sweptback = sweep (transparent) = back + swept

The hair meaning is a direct adjectival use of 'swept' + 'back' (styled or combed toward the rear), which learners can infer from the parts. [Postprocessing: moved 'back' from base_words to prefix]

Etymology

The word sweptback comes from the parts swept (past of sweep, 'to brush or move something') and back ('toward the rear'), so imagine hair pushed back off the face. So, sweptback hair is combed or styled to flow away from the face.