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
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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:
Catherine, Princess of Wales, beams on the front page of the Sun, which reads: "We're all grin it together".
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026
Wait, as society gets richer, we have it so good but the ridiculous cost slaps that grin right off our faces?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
The thing’s Cheshire feline grin even made Satsuki a little nervous.
From Salon ● Jul. 15, 2026
Laga’aia’s Moana has a buoyant, likable optimism that mostly carries her through the fact that she doesn’t get to do much besides grin inanely.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
And if trees could grin like jack-o’-lanterns with bad intentions, that’s what Paulie T. would have been doing right then.
From "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan
People grinned and then gasped, some with tears streaming down their faces.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
Then he turned to the visitors dugout, grinned and lifted both fists above his head.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
This left Davies mock-floundering next to her, before she winked at the camera and grinned.
From BBC ● May 10, 2026
He looked thinner than in his prior court appearance, but grinned enthusiastically as he shook his lawyers’ hands.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 26, 2026
Every time he caught her eye, he grinned sheepishly, clearly hoping that he could melt her resolve.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
Holidaymakers are grinning and posing before heading to the next beauty spot.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
"A beautiful day," a grinning Eric Trump said on Fox News at the newly minted President Donald J. Trump International Airport, a short drive from the family's Mar-a-Lago golf resort and compound.
From Barron's ● Jul. 9, 2026
Yuriskulova, the driver, recalled him grinning broadly the entire way.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
But after Trump Jr. touched down, the two men toured the Ambanis’ private zoo, and at night they performed a Gujarati folk dance, grinning as they moved together to the music.
From Salon ● Jun. 11, 2026
One stayed, his cap with the skull grinning down at us.
From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron
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.
