grin
1 Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
noun
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a broad smile.
-
the act of producing a broad smile.
-
the act of withdrawing the lips and showing the teeth, as in anger or pain.
noun
verb (used with object)
verb
-
to smile with the lips drawn back revealing the teeth or express (something) by such a smile
to grin a welcome
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(intr) to draw back the lips revealing the teeth, as in a snarl or grimace
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informal to suffer trouble or hardship without complaint
noun
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a broad smile
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a snarl or grimace
Synonym Usage
See laugh.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of grin1
First recorded before 1000; Middle English grinnen, grennen, Old English grennian; cognate with Old High German grennan “to mutter”
Origin of grin2
First recorded before 900; Middle English grin(e), grinne, Old English grin, gryn
Explanation
When you grin, you smile. You're likely to grin when your sister tells you a particularly funny knock-knock joke. There's some disagreement about the difference between a grin and a smile — some define a grin as a broad smile that exposes your teeth, but others consider a grin to be a smile with lips tightly closed. Either way, a grin usually expresses amusement, although it sometimes has a mischievous or sly implication: "No one confessed to letting the rabbit loose in the classroom, but one student's grin gave her away."
Vocabulary lists containing grin
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“I started working here when I was 3 years old,” Castaneda says with a grin before turning to the hunk of hot pastrami he’s placed on a cutting board.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2026
He looked startled for a moment and then with an uncharacteristic grin replied that he considered that a welcome compliment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
When I mention this paradox, a grin spreads across his face.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
Siegmund, its leader in the state, is an energetic 35-year-old with a friendly demeanor and a semi-permanent grin.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
She bared her long brown teeth at him in a hideous grin.
From "Rowan of Rin" by Emily Rodda
And when he did, he grinned at his supporters again and urged them to make themselves heard.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
When Tinfow found himself at a loss for words, she grinned.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 14, 2026
Still dressed in his black suit from the red carpet, the star ate with his award sitting on the table and grinned as he signed paper hats for staff.
From BBC ● Mar. 17, 2026
Spielberg grinned as the audience broke out into cheers.
From Barron's ● Mar. 14, 2026
I grinned at Anna May, whose eyebrows were pulled high on her forward.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
Jumping down from her uncle's shoulders, seven-year-old Dona ran grinning to her mother after Pope Leo XIV waved at her on his way past on a famed Paris avenue.
From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026
The storyline is inscrutable, but Walters displays real range, gazing forlornly in the rain, hurling dishes at a wall, grinning and giving high-fives when a family takes him bowling.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
Armed with the above ad and welcomed by a grinning private guard calling, “Here bunny, bunny, bunny!”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026
“We just laugh about it,” a grinning Siegmund said about the article.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
“Okay,” Sara said, grinning but a bit embarrassed.
From "City Spies" by James Ponti
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
