Meaning of smile in English

smile

/smaɪl/ us

/smaɪl/

a happy or friendly expression on the face in which the ends of the mouth curve up slightly, often with the lips moving apart so that the teeth can be seen:

Amy had a big/broad smile on her face.

She has a nice smile.

He winked and gave me a smile.

It's nice to be able to bring a smile to people's faces (= make people smile).

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Slowly a smile spread across her face.
There was the faintest trace of a smile on her lips.
He tried to suppress a smile but felt the corner of his mouth twitch.
She gave everyone a welcoming smile.
The minister wore a confident smile throughout the interview.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Laughing and smiling

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Idiom

be all smiles

smile

verb

/smaɪl/ us

/smaɪl/

B1 [ I or T ]

to make a happy or friendly expression in which the corners of your mouth curve up:

He smiled and shook my hand.

When he smiled at me I knew everything was all right.

Esme's so cheerful - she's always smiling.

I couldn't help smiling when I thought of how pleased she was going to be.

He smiled politely as Mary apologized for her drunken friends.

He smiled to himself as he thought about his new girlfriend.

He smiled the smile of a man who knew victory was within reach.

[ T ]

to express or say something with a smile:

He smiled his congratulations and left without another word.

"Don't you worry about a thing. Everything's going to be just fine," smiled Robin reassuringly.

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She smiled affectionately at him.
My mother smiled encouragingly at me as I went up on stage.
He smiled fondly at the children.
She looked up from her book and smiled at me.
He smiled at me in a reassuring way.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Laughing and smiling

See more results »

Phrasal verb

smile on something/someone

(Definition of smile from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

smile | American Dictionary

smile

noun [ C ]

/smɑɪl/

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an expression on the face in which the ends of the mouth curve up slightly, often with the lips moving apart so that the teeth can be seen, expressing esp. happiness, pleasure, amusement, or a friendly feeling:

a big/happy/pretty smile

a smile of joy/satisfaction/amusement

We exchanged smiles as we passed in the hallway.

smiley

adjective us

/ˈsmɑɪ·li/

infml

He’s a very smiley, friendly baby.

smile

verb [ I/T ]

/smɑɪl/

to make a happy or friendly expression in which the ends of the mouth curve up slightly:

[ I ] I couldn’t help smiling.

[ I ] When he smiled at me, I knew everything was OK.

[ I ] She smiled to herself.

[ T ] He smiled a happy smile.

(Definition of smile from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of smile

smile

There is an intricate co-ordination of pausing and looking within turns, followed by head-nods, smiles, and gazes.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The publisher smiled at the illustrator of the writers who was dressed colorfully.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

She touched the doll briefly then put the bowl down in her lap, rocking it gently with both hands and smiling occasionally.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The unfriendly faces, illuminated by the glow of the fire, communicate their unified defiance through the faintest of smiles.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Positive affect was coded if children exhibited any overt smiles or laughter during the observation.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Responses consisted of choosing between "good," represented with a smiling face, or "bad," represented with a frowning face.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

She presents this to you; you smilingly wear it, and, still smiling, show it to ten of your friends outside.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

She turns and smiles at any man who'll lift his head.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

He smiled now, showing off the gold caps on his teeth.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Pace and mood may be set with smiles, jokes, frowns, exclamations, and volume, rapidity, or intonation of speech.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The hypocritical smiles are cracking the overdone make-up of its faces and facades held uneasily by feeble cardboard props.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Psychologists also find that responses to these surveys are ' validated ' fairly consistently by psychological measures of happiness, such as respondents smiling more.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The woman smiles back at them confidently and walks away, which indicates that it is no big deal for her - she has done it before.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

As his wife saw glimpses of her husband's personality emerge, she wept and smiled, encouraging and reassuring him.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

One smiles at the attempt to make the false attribution more credible by embroidering it with a year of composition and place of performance.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

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These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

What is the pronunciation of smile?

Translations of smile

in Chinese (Traditional)

微笑，笑容, 微笑，笑, 以微笑表達…

Meaning of smile in English

Idiom

Phrasal verb

smile | American Dictionary

smiley

Examples of smile

Translations of smile

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