fake-ass smile
- noun
- Offensive
:
sonrisa fingida
- She flashed a fake-ass smile whenever she was trying to hide her annoyance.
Examples
-
-That was a fake-ass smile.
-
That's what it's like, this fake-ass smile all by itself.
Fiction book (1996) -
He greeted me with a fake-ass smile that made it clear he didn't care.
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His fake-ass smile revealed his true feelings about the situation.
Synonyms
33
4.2
A smile that shows you feel pleased with yourself and dislike for others
3
9.9
A smug, annoying smile that shows someone is pleased with themselves
1
7.5
A shy, silly smile that looks forced and not real
A fake smile that shows no real feeling
A smile that is fake but looks sincere
How Sincere
Surface Forms
Morphology
fake-ass + smile
The meaning is directly derivable from the constituents: 'fake' (not genuine) + 'smile' (facial expression) yields an insincere or not-genuine smile. Although 'fake-ass' is colloquial/intensifying slang, the basic compositional meaning is transparent and a B1 learner who knows 'fake' and 'smile' would readily infer the sense.
Etymology
Fake-ass smile paints a simple picture: someone moves their mouth in a smile but their eyes and feelings do not match, so the smile is fake. The rude word ass just makes the phrase stronger, so it means a very 'not real' smile used to hide true feelings.