Meanings
plural facepalms · alternative face-palm · alternative face palm
- A gesture of bringing one or both palms to the face, with various interpretations including exasperation, chagrin, frustration, embarrassment (one's own or vicarious), etc.
“Do you think Carl Sagan might be available?” There was a mass-facepalm. “No.” they chorused.
1996 August 6, General Chaos, “SG: Slackers Anonymous #16 -- “Experienced?””, in bit.listserv.superguy (Usenet), retrieved 07 Feb 2017, message-ID <Pine.LNX.3.95.960806201148.27196D-100000@eyrie.org>3 more examples
[Cue: William Tell Overture] [sound of Frank Zappa's “San Ber'dino” being played on Japanese instruments] [Kevin (the Muse): “Wargh! It SAID _William Tell!”] [Cantata11 (walking up with a koto): “Oof. Sorry. It's just that the girls had gotten warmed up to the other thingy...”] [Kevin: “William _Tell_, 11.” (facepalm)]
1996 June 6, Amy Borden, “SG: Slackers Anonymous #14”, in bit.listserv.superguy (Usenet), retrieved 07 Feb 2017, message-ID <Pine.SGI.3.91.960606231711.21356A-100000@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu>A look of realization crossed her face; she looked like she may have given herself a face palm if her hands weren't full.
2008, Sara Vance-Hogan, Dies Irae: Love and Friendship, page 243According to a study by me, this generates a multibillion facepalm for the UK economy, making everyone who considers it at least eleventy hundred pounds unhappier.
2012 July 3, Marina Hyde, “A lesson in Olymp-o-nomics”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 19 May 2025
present singular third person facepalms · participle present facepalming · participle past facepalmed · past facepalmed · alternative face-palm · alternative face palm
- To bring the palm of one’s hand to one’s face as an expression of mixed humor and disbelief, disgust or shame; for example, when one is caught off-guard with a particularly bad pun.
“Yay! I know you! You're Nicholas Lee, the detective who got fired 'cos of us!” Nina exclaimed happily. Lee facepalmed. “Arrgh...” “Nina...” Tris muttered. “Let's quit while we're ahead, okay?”
1996 May 21, Jesse Brian Taylor, “SG: Tornado Knights #10 (2/2)”, in bit.listserv.superguy (Usenet), retrieved 07 Feb 2017, message-ID <199605220257.VAA07240@goliath.vuse>1 more example
Christie blinked, then *looked* at Steven. “Do you have any idea what might be different?” “Um... No? Christie facepalmed. “Well, her hair was red this morning, right? It's blonde now. You figure it out.”
1996 May 15, Jon Robertson, “SG: Remains #2 (2/2)”, in bit.listserv.superguy (Usenet), retrieved 07 Feb 2017, message-ID <199605160138.VAA00171@datasys.net> - To bring one’s face down to one’s cupped hand or hands.
Origin
From face + palm. Attested since at least 2001.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan mà a la cara
- mà a la caragesture
Chinese Mandarin 捂臉 /捂脸, 掩面
- 捂臉 /捂脸 (wǔliǎn)bring the palm of the hand to the face
- 掩面 (yǎnmiàn)bring the palm of the hand to the face
Dutch het gezicht in de handen verbergen, zich voor de kop slaan
- het gezicht in de handen verbergenbring the palm of the hand to the face
- zich voor de kop slaanbring the palm of the hand to the face
- het gezicht in de handen verbergenbring the face to the palm of the hand
Finnish naamapalmu, peittää kasvonsa kämmenellään
- naamapalmugesture
- peittää kasvonsa kämmenelläänbring the palm of the hand to the face
- haudata kasvonsa kämmeniinsäbring the face to the palm of the hand
French main sur le front, facepalm
- main sur le frontgesture
- facepalmgesture
- se taper la main sur le frontbring the palm of the hand to the face
- se taper la tête avec la mainbring the palm of the hand to the face
- se cacher la tête dans la mainbring the face to the palm of the hand
German Stirnklatsch, Facepalm
- Stirnklatschgesture
- Facepalmgesture
- Fazialpalmierengesture
- die Hände vors Gesicht schlagenbring the palm of the hand to the face
- fazialpalmierenbring the palm of the hand to the face
Hungarian facepalm, fogja a fejét
- facepalmgesture
- fogja a fejétbring the palm of the hand to the face
- kezébe temeti arcátbring the face to the palm of the hand
Italian facepalm, mano sul volto
- facepalmgesture
- mano sul voltogesture
- portare il palmo della mano al voltobring the palm of the hand to the face
Japanese 手に顔を埋める
- 手に顔を埋める (te ni kao o uzumeru)bring the palm of the hand to the face
Korean 마른세수, 손바닥을 얼굴에 대다
- 마른세수 (mareunsesu)gesture
- 손바닥을 얼굴에 대다 (sonbadag-eul eolgur-e daeda)bring the palm of the hand to the face
Malay tepuk dahi
- tepuk dahibring the palm of the hand to the face
Polish facepalm, robić facepalma
- facepalmgesture
- robić facepalmabring the palm of the hand to the face
- zrobić facepalmabring the palm of the hand to the face
- ukrywać twarz w dłoniachbring the face to the palm of the hand
- ukryć twarz w dłoniachbring the face to the palm of the hand
Russian фейспа́лм, фейспа́м
- фейспа́лм (fɛjspálm)gesture
- фейспа́м (fɛjspám)gesture
- прикры́ть лицо́ ладо́нью (prikrýtʹ licó ladónʹju)bring the face to the palm of the hand
Spanish palmada facial
- palmada facialgesture
Swedish ta sig för pannan
- ta sig för pannanbring the palm of the hand to the face
Cite this entry
facepalm. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/facepalm
“facepalm.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/facepalm. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “facepalm,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/facepalm.
Source: facepalm on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.