simper
Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
noun
verb
-
(intr) to smile coyly, affectedly, or in a silly self-conscious way
-
(tr) to utter (something) in a simpering manner
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
simpersimple
-
simperssimple
-
have simperedperfect
-
has simperedperfect
-
am simperingprogressive
-
are simperingprogressive
-
is simperingprogressive
-
have been simperingperfect progressive
-
has been simperingperfect progressive
Past
-
simperedsimple
-
had simperedperfect
-
was simperingprogressive
-
were simperingprogressive
-
had been simperingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of simper
First recorded in 1560–70; related to the Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, and Swiss dialect adjective semper “affected, coy,” German zimpfer “dainty, affected,” and to Middle Dutch zimperlijc “affected, coy”; further etymology unknown
Explanation
To simper means to smile in an artificial, coy or self-conscious way. If you hope to please someone by simpering, you may wind up annoying him or her. The origin of the word simper is not clear, but it is probably Germanic as there are similar words in Danish as well as Middle Dutch. What is clear is that a simper is not attractive to those observing it. Watching your colleague simper and giggle as the boss tells a not-very-funny joke, you can be sure that she is angling for that promotion.
Vocabulary lists containing simper
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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:
He tweeted: "*blush* *giggle* *simper* - thank you very much, nice Golden Rose people."
From BBC ● Nov. 19, 2015
Maybe we shouldn't snigger at the deferential newsreel interviewers who would simper "is there anything you want to say, Minister?"
From The Guardian ● Jul. 20, 2013
Soon she and Vinny have established a playful rapport that causes Edgar to whimper and simper in jealousy.
From New York Times ● Oct. 28, 2011
Even party ballet Elite Syncopations, MacMillan's 1974 setting of Scott Joplin rags, has an acidic aftertaste: the girls simper and the men strut with an unnerving edge of desperation.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 24, 2010
He couldn’t simper around these fools and still be what he was becoming for Naomi.
From "Out of Darkness" by Ashley Hope Pérez
“You’ve been crying. That touches me,” he simpers.
From The Guardian ● May 5, 2018
“They say I’m too young to love you,” she simpers on “Brooklyn Baby”.
From Time ● Jun. 17, 2014
"Hoyt was kind of shy about it, I think because of my fangs," she simpers.
From Salon ● Sep. 12, 2011
Ashley Moniz simpers and pouts satisfactorily as Velma’s camera-hogging offspring Amber.
From New York Times ● Jul. 16, 2011
He was sick of sitting here listening to Mr. Reardon bully his family with all these “hypotheticals,” all these simpers and smirks, cruel smiles and humorless laughs.
From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
He also simpered that he was “belied and stared at, as if I was a Rhinoceros,” escalating his bath of self-pity to exclamations that “I am in danger of being murdered without doors.”
From Slate ● Aug. 9, 2016
He just simpered and whined ineffectually, then fell under the sway of the Faith Militant’s leader – whom he should be opposing.
From The Guardian ● May 16, 2016
"At least this wee fella loves me," he simpered, nanoseconds before the cur sank its gnashers into the hand of the Souness-shunning sadsack.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 14, 2012
Early this month Gracie simpered the news that her brother had disappeared.
From Time Magazine Archive
"I know, I know," she simpered, "you were trying to tell us about the itsy-bitsy snowflings."
From "The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin
Geoffrey’s simpering, emotional stuntedness may make it difficult for, say, the village’s priest or barkeep to see much of themselves in him.
From The Verge ● May 9, 2022
If the real-life Lewinsky is okay being portrayed as a simpering mess as she is here — and who wasn’t at age 22? — then all power to her.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 1, 2021
Davies was a gifted comedienne whose career was, if anything, hampered by her lover-producer’s insistence that she play only the simpering heroines of historical melodramas.
From Slate ● Nov. 12, 2020
But while characters like David Copperfield’s simpering first wife, Dora, may fulfil this stereotype, there are also radical departures.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 23, 2020
“I—well, I should hope I’m more than just some simpering courtier,” she said with as much bravado as she could muster.
From "Throne of Glass" by Sarah J. Maas
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.
