mug shot

noun

A photograph of a person's face, especially one taken by the police during an arrest.

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Meanings

nounmug shot (plural mug shots)

plural mug shots · alternative mugshot

  1. governmentA photograph of a person's face, especially one taken by the police during an arrest.

    The buddy list has a bunch of visual status clues. Your buddy may have included a mug shot, perhaps through Photo Booth.

    2006 October 2, Edward C. Baig, Macs For Dummies, page 204
    3 more examples

    All Summer Johnny was Prince of the penny arcade, arms around me on the tilt-a-whirl, mug-shot grins in the quarter photo booth, twanging his guitar for street kids on the hill who scored baggies of hashish and Panama Red.

    2002, Carolyne Wright, Greatest Hits 1975-2001, page 32

    All these parameters of the series (the mug shot, the means of mechanical reproduction, the desirability of the outlawed, the reversal of law and desire and even the photo booth) are unmistakably present in Genet’s Our Lady of the Flowers.

    2008, Johanne Lamoureux, PRECARIOUS VISUALITIES New Perspectives on Identification in Contemporary Art and Visual Culture: Ending Myths and the Catholic Outing of Andy Warhol, page 114

    After waiting some five hours to be called forward on an unusually hot, humid Summer’s day in London (I believe temperatures soared to around 30 degrees Centigrade or around 90F), I presented my mug shot to the perky female jobs-worth official.

    2022 July 28, Marianne Paley, Betrayed!

Synonyms & antonyms

nouna photograph of someone's face (especially one made for police records)

Similar

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

From mug (“face”) + shot (“snapshot”). First use appears c. 1899.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 臉部照片 /脸部照片
  • 臉部照片 /脸部照片 (liǎnbù zhàopiàn)photograph taken during an arrest
Finnish pidätyskuva
  • pidätyskuvaphotograph taken during an arrest
French portrait, photographie d'identité judiciaire
  • portraitphotograph taken during an arrest
  • photographie d'identité judiciairephotograph taken during an arrest
  • mugshotphotograph taken during an arrest
German Polizeifoto
  • Polizeifotophotograph taken during an arrest
Japanese マグショット
  • マグショット (magushotto)photograph taken during an arrest
Korean 머그샷
  • 머그샷 (meogeusyat)photograph taken during an arrest
Portuguese foto de fichamento, foto de cadeia
  • foto de fichamentophotograph taken during an arrest
  • foto de cadeiaphotograph taken during an arrest
  • foto fichadaphotograph taken during an arrest
  • foto policialphotograph taken during an arrest
  • retrato policialphotograph taken during an arrest
  • foto de criminosophotograph taken during an arrest
Russian фото в профиль и анфас
  • фото в профиль и анфас (foto v profilʹ i anfas)photograph taken during an arrest
Spanish ficha policial, fotografía de prontuario
  • ficha policialphotograph taken during an arrest
  • fotografía de prontuariophotograph taken during an arrest
  • fotografía policialphotograph taken during an arrest
Swedish förbrytarfoto, mugshot
  • förbrytarfotophotograph taken during an arrest
  • mugshotphotograph taken during an arrest
Vietnamese hình cảnh sát
  • hình cảnh sátphotograph taken during an arrest
Cite this entry
APA

mug shot. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mug%20shot

MLA

“mug shot.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mug%20shot. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mug shot,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mug%20shot.

Source: mug shot on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.