Facial Expressions, Miscellaneous
Facial Expressions, Miscellaneous
See Also: EYE EXPRESSIONS, MISCELLANEOUS
- Always had a ready smile, so that her face with its round rosy cheeks was more like something you could eat or lick; she reminded me of nothing so much as an apple fritter —Edna O’Brien
- Anger on her cheeks like rouge —Truman Capote
- Anxiety and annoyance chasing each other like the hands of a clock around his wide, flat face —Helen Hudson
- Blinked … like an owl surprised in daylight and annoyed at this interruption —John Galsworthy
- Bright, inflamed look, as though she had just been crying or having her cheeks scrubbed by an angry nursegirl —Mary McCarthy
- Face … cold as a cameo —Barbara Howes
- His countenance was like lightning —The Holy Bible/Matthew
- Expression … like a leopard who’s just sighted a plump impala —Jilly Cooper
- Expression like a stork that dropped a baby and broke it and is coming to explain to the parents —Mel Brooks
- Face was wound up like a spring —Alan Sillitoe
- Face … cold, as though warmth and tenderness were dead in her —Jean Rhys
- Face … as calm as a mask —Ross Macdonald
- Face … as hard as ice —Roberta Allen
- Face as welcoming as an open fire —William Mcllvanney
- Face becoming creased and flabby, like an old bag, with the strain of making it smile and show interest and speak its permitted few words —Kingsley Amis
- Face bobbing anxiously like a man bidding at an auction —Derek Lambert
- Face changed a little … as if a headlight had flashed across it —Frank Tuohy
- Face [of old man] crinkled into a laugh, so that it looked like a polished walnut —Lu Hsiin
- Face crumpled like a sheet of wadded paper —Pat M. Esslinger-Carr
- Face … delicate with fear, as if it might shatter like white china —Paul Theroux
- Face had clenched like a pale wax-paper mask, into a ball of hate —Louise Erdrich
- Face had fallen like a waffle —Frank O’Hara
- Face harmoniously fixed, as if for a camera —Elizabeth Hardwick
- Face harsh and wrung and savage beneath the springing tears like sweat —William Faulkner
- Face is still calm, as though she had a cast made and painted to just the look she wanted —Ken Kesey
- Face laced tight as a shoe —Lorrie Moore
- (When he came … her) face lighted up as if he had been sunshine —William Makepeace Thackeray
- Face like a buttered scone, dripping complacency —Helen Hudson
- Face lit up like a sunburst —Max Shulman
- Face lit with a kind of radiant pain, as if she’d been bitten by a miracle —Sharon Sheehe Stark
- (Icy anger tucked behind his) face, locked up like a store after hours —Lorrie Moore
- Face looked all stiff, as if he were afraid the features would fall off —Helen Hudson
- Face puckered and fierce and jowly and quizzical like a Boston bulldog —George Garrett
- Face … rigid, like the face of a man in the grip of a barely controlled rage —Wallace Stegner
- (Tiny’s) face sagged like an old pillow propped against a headboard —Harold Adams
- Faces all knotted up like burls on oaks —William Carlos Williams
- Faces became red and swollen as from an interior fire which flamed out from the clear holes of their eyes —Émile Zola
- Faces chipped into expressions that never change, like flint arrowheads —Ken Kesey
- (The sheriff’s) face seems to melt like a plate of butter left too close to the fire —George Garrett
- Face shining like a great sunflower —Aharon Megged
- Face shone with a bright glow … like the terrible glow of a fire on a dark night —Leo Tolstoy
- Faces … lifted up like flowers in a kind of rapt and mournful ecstasy —Thomas Wolfe
- Face squinched up like a withered apple —Robert B. Parker
- Faces with the word ‘no’ stamped like a coat of arms on them —V. S. Pritchett
The faces Pritchett describes belong to London landladies.
- Face that looks as overworked as Gary Cooper trying to register an emotion —Wallace Stegner
- Face twisted like a man who’s accidentally swallowed a whole chili pepper —Gloria Norris
- Face, vague like a shadow —Anatole France
See Also: VAGUENESS
- Face … vigilant as some small cat’s —Louise Erdrich
- Face was set into an expression of intense attention, like a man listening to an important broadcast which might affect his course of action in some way —John Malcolm
See Also: ATTENTION
- Face went to pieces as if by its own weight —Ross Macdonald
- Fearful expression … like the fear of an animal which has been beaten and kicked for too long —Louis Bromfield
- Features … softening like wax too close to the flame —George Garrett
- Fierce and variegated countenance, appeared like war personified —Nathaniel Hawthorne
See Also: FEROCITY
- A gentle, cowlike expression passed over her face like a cloud —Colette
- Grimaced, like a rubber Kewpie doll being squeezed in all the wrong places —Paige Mitchell
- The grin left his face and was replaced by the sort of amusement that rings like a coin slapped on a bar —Jonathan Valin
- Had a face like a requiem —Honoré de Balzac
- Had an expression on his face as if he were listening for something, so that one felt one couldn’t disturb him —Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
- (Her eyes were still red, but she) had the happy look of a child that has outslept its grief —Edith Wharton
- Had the mankind-loving look of a convert fresh from church —Harold Adams
- Hard, red face like a book of rules —Anthony Carson
- Has a haunted, jumpy look, as if invisible alarm clocks were going off throughout the day, to remind him of undone duties —Christopher Isherwood
- His fat face opened and smiled like a distorted, gold-toothed flower —John Dickson Carr
- His mangy little face lit up like a store window going on for the night —Jonathan Valin
- Like a peddler whose wares have been turned down all day, he waited, with a look of patient expectation —Elizabeth Hardwick
- Lips went white, like a person who has received a stunning blow without warning and who, in the first moments of shock, does not realize what has happened —Margaret Mitchell
See Also: LIPS
- (Every time he saw Conrad he) lit up like a fairground with hilarity and self-satisfaction —A. Alvarez
- A lonely face, pulled in like rain off the wild stretches —Elizabeth Spencer
- Look as startled as a hare —Joyce Cary
- Looked smug … like a messenger bringing the news of a battle won —John Rechy
- Looked wistful, like a kid who’d lost the magic penny —Robert Campbell
- Looking as miserable as sin —Penelope Gilliatt
- Looking puzzled and dismayed, like a baby who’s learned to pull itself up on the sides of a crib, but hasn’t figured out how to sit down again —Sue Grafton
- A look of intense mirth spread over Lily’s face like water released suddenly from a broken dam —Louis Bromfield
- A look of surprise … as if he’d just swallowed an ice cube —T. Coraghessan Boyle
See Also: SURPRISE
- Looks perpetually surprised, but scared and insincere, like a play actor —Jayne Anne Phillips
- Looks puzzled and grieved, as if he can’t believe his bad luck —François Camoin
- No pity or censure in her face, it was as immovable as a fact —Margaret Millar
- Official faces … like death masks —Ross Macdonald
- Old emotions, like old scars, savaged his face —Rita Mae Brown
- One could see thoughts crossing his face like caravans of camels lurching slowly across the seemingly endless Sahara —Delmore Schwartz
See Also: THOUGHT
- Open-mouthed, like a fish —Anon
- Pale astonishment in his face as if at a sudden accusation —George Eliot
- Pleading look, a beg for help like a message from a powerless invaded country to the rest of the world —Lynne Sharon Schwartz
- Sensuality had been eroded from his face, nibbled away, as the sea nibbles traces of meat from a shell —Julia O’Faolain
- A set face, sad like a toy soldier’s, wooden and clad with honor —Z. Vance Wilson
- (The other diners were listening with) shocked but rather smirking expressions, like good little boys who were going to hear the bad little boy told off —Jean Rhys
- The compassionate look of a friendly dog —André Malraux
- Their faces seemed unusually open, like so many windows —John Cheever
See Also: CANDOR
- Tiredness and worry chasing one another like clouds across her face —Susan Hill
- A tremor, as quick and delicate as a pulse, passed over her features … so quickly it seemed a drop of rain had simply moved like a shadow across her face —Alice McDermott
See Also: TREMBLING
- His face [as he breaks into laughter] unfolds like a peony —Erich Maria Remarque
- Your face is a book, where men may read strange matters —William Shakespeare