moue
Americannoun
-
moues
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of moue
First recorded in 1845–50; from French; Old French moe; see mow 3
Explanation
A moue is a grimace you make with your lips. If you make this expression, you're usually showing distaste, petulance, or a similar emotion. Moue is also used, however, to refer to a flirtatious pout. The word moue is pronounced "moo," like the sound a cow makes, although the origin of the word has nothing to do with cows. Instead, the noun moue comes from the Middle Dutch word mouwe, which meant a protruding lip. You can make a moue of displeasure when someone steals your parking spot or give a coy moue when you're trying to get away with something. Either way, you're pouting.
Vocabulary lists containing moue
The Lingo of Body Language
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The Picture of Dorian Gray
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Scrabble: Four-Letter Words with 3 Vowels
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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:
Her sleepy, bedroom gaze, articulated by the swoop of her liquid eyeliner; her bright red moue; and that beauty mark were the star’s own creations, conceived with her longtime West Coast-based makeup artist, Whitey Snyder.
From New York Times ● Jan. 21, 2024
Harper is haunted, and Buckley conveys her anxiety with wide, darting eyes, or twisting her mouth in a moue.
From Salon ● May 20, 2022
Its single eye has clearly seen something no mortal eyes were meant to see, and the little moue of its mouth makes it clear that it liked it.
From Slate ● Aug. 6, 2021
Dern is in devilish form, right down to the little moue of sympathy that she gives when Nicole says, “I don’t want any money or anything.”
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 1, 2019
Reznak set the head on a satin pillow at the king’s feet, then scampered away, his mouth twisted up in a moue of distaste.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
The first lady calls her “a menopausal toddler” — a description that Rachel Dratch, with her repertoire of cringes and moues, fully inhabits.
From New York Times ● Apr. 27, 2022
"I wish somebody would love me," he moues to Martin Milner on a 1950 episode of Life With Father.
From Time Magazine Archive
They may make moues at gnus or gape at apes, gawk at giraffes, elephants and zebras capering au naturel, or goggle at performing beasts, birds and fishes of uncanny talent.
From Time Magazine Archive
A dog of the house of Mountague, moues me Greg.
From Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
To the world of beauties Nature lent, And in each beautie worlds of loues content, Wherein delight and state moues circuler, Pleasure being captaine to thy Hemisphere.
From Seven Minor Epics of the English Renaissance (1596-1624) by Paul William Miller
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.
