Meanings
plural compursions
- humorousrareA pursing, as of the lips.
A compursion of the boy's face. "Does it mean something I don't understand?"
2001, Jamie O'Neill, At Swim, Two Boys, page 2541 more example
However, as he knew not what the true cause might turn out, he deemed it most prudent, in the situation he was in at present, to bear it, if possible, like a Stoic, which, with the help of some wry faces and compursions of the mouth, he had certainly accomplished, had his imagination continued neuter: […]
1761, [Laurence Sterne], The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, volume IV, London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley […], →OCLC
Origin
From com- (prefix meaning ‘together’) + purse (“to press (one’s lips) in and together so that they protrude”, verb) + -ion (suffix denoting an action or process, or condition or state).
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with compursion
All rhymes →Sounds the same
Cite this entry
compursion. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/compursion
“compursion.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/compursion. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “compursion,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/compursion.
Source: compursion on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.