twinkly-eyed smile
- noun
:
sonrisa chispeante
- His twinkly-eyed smile lit up the room.
Examples
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With a twinkly-eyed smile, the old shopkeeper handed the boy a piece of candy.
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Her twinkly-eyed smile made everyone in the office feel more at ease.
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He greeted us at the door with a twinkly-eyed smile that instantly lifted our spirits.
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She greeted me with a twinkly-eyed smile.
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He greeted us at the door with a twinkly-eyed smile that instantly lifted our spirits.
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Her twinkly-eyed smile made everyone in the office feel more at ease.
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With a twinkly-eyed smile, the old shopkeeper handed the boy a piece of candy.
Synonyms
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1.0
A facial expression with the mouth corners turned up to show happiness or friendliness
139
1.0
A broad smile showing the teeth when someone is happy or amused
47
1.0
A wide friendly movement of the mouth that shows happiness
4
1.0
A friendly expression on the face that shows real kindness
A happy look on someone's face that shows joy
A smile that shows great joy and means a lot to someone
Antonyms
How Cheerful
Surface Forms
Morphology
twinkly-eyed + smile
The phrase is transparently compositional: 'twinkly-eyed' can be parsed as 'twinkly' (having a twinkle) + 'eyed' (having eyes) and 'smile' is literal, so a learner who knows 'twinkle'/'twinkly', 'eye' and 'smile' can infer a smile accompanied by sparkling, lively eyes. Although slightly poetic, the morphology and metaphor are regular and cross-linguistically familiar, making the overall meaning directly derivable.
Etymology
Twinkly-eyed smile paints a picture of someone's twinkly eyes shining like small lights while they smile warmly. That bright, warm look is why the phrase means 'joyful' and 'friendly'.