Meanings
comparative more poker-faced · superlative most poker-faced · alternative poker faced · alternative pokerfaced
- Wearing a poker face: studiously neutral in facial expression; giving nothing away.
John, in his most poker-faced manner, continued to explain the rules.
1 more example
Harold Lloyd had had one or two minor comic brushes with railway trains, but the first man to produce real comedy from locomotives was the great poker-faced clown, Buster Keaton.
1958 February 28, David Gunston, “Railways on the Screen”, in Railway Magazine, pages 87-88Synonyms: deadpan, expressionless, unexpressive, impassive
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveWearing a poker face: studiously neutral in facial expression; giving nothing away.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivedeliberately impassive in manner
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From the attitude necessary in the game of poker, since one is ill-advised to reveal delight at being dealt a winning hand lest other players decline to bet (or contrariwise, show disappointment at a poor hand if one is inclined to bluff).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
poker-faced. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/poker-faced
“poker-faced.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/poker-faced. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “poker-faced,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/poker-faced.
Source: poker-faced on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.