Meanings
present singular third person makes a face · participle present making a face · participle past made a face · past made a face
- colloquialTo make a facial expression, often for humor, as a taunt, or to indicate distaste.
I looked at Tomkins to see whether, by chance, he had made a face at his lordship, ...
1849, “Mr. Jolly Green's Account Of The Great Paris Excursion”, in W. Harrison Ainsworth, editor, The New monthly magazine, volume 86, page 981 more example
I was at Park Safari Africa in Canada on the Canadian border. This was years ago outside of Plattsburgh, New York. And I had a new car at the time, and I was driving through, going through the monkey area. And they said 'beware of the monkeys.' So about ten of them circled my car. And this one special one, like he was the leader of the pack, jumped up on the hood and came right up to the windshield and looked in. So I was like making faces at him. [garbled] 'don't do that!' And believe it or not, he made like a face back. He jumped off the car. He took his fingernails and he peeled all the chrome on both sides of my car off. Picked it up, jumped on the hood, dropped it and left- looked at me and left.
2006 May 9, Penn Jillette, Michael Goudeau, quoting Pat, 34:52 from the start, in Penn RadioSynonyms: pull a face
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo make a facial expression, often for humor, as a taunt, or to indicate distaste.
More synonyms by meaning
verbcontort the face to indicate a certain mental or emotional state
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Finnish ilmehtiä, ilmeillä
- ilmehtiäto make a facial expression
- ilmeilläto make a facial expression
- väännellä naamaansato make a facial expression
French faire la grimace
- faire la grimaceto make a facial expression
German Grimasse schneiden
- Grimasse schneidento make a facial expression
Polish robić minę, zrobić minę
- robić minęto make a facial expression
- zrobić minęto make a facial expression
- krzywić sięto make a facial expression
- skrzywić sięto make a facial expression
Portuguese fazer careta
- fazer caretato make a facial expression
Russian ко́рчить ро́жу impf ско́рчить ро́жу, стро́ить грима́су
- ко́рчить ро́жу impf ско́рчить ро́жу (kórčitʹ róžu)to make a facial expression
- стро́ить грима́су (stróitʹ grimásu)to make a facial expression
- состро́ить грима́су (sostróitʹ grimásu)to make a facial expression
- криви́ть лицо́ (krivítʹ licó)to make a facial expression
- скриви́ть лицо́ (skrivítʹ licó)to make a facial expression
Spanish poner caras, hacer muecas
- poner carasto make a facial expression
- hacer muecasto make a facial expression
Ukrainian криви́тися
- криви́тися (kryvýtysja)to make a facial expression
Cite this entry
make a face. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/make%20a%20face
“make a face.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/make%20a%20face. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “make a face,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/make%20a%20face.
Source: make a face on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.