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:
And by the end of the 90 minutes, Mbappé was meeting every aggression with a gigantic grin.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
Albanese sported a wide grin as the two leaders briefly paused at the event to take a selfie photo.
From Barron's ● Jul. 9, 2026
"I was wild at St John's Medical College in Bangalore," he says with a grin.
From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2026
Lee, 31, exclaimed, and the pair, mere moments after meeting, snapped a selfie as Gonzalez, 28, presented his Korean bulgogi beef quesadilla to the camera with a grin.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2026
Arlo looks down, attempting to hide his grin.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
Goodell grinned and replied, “I really don’t know the answer to that one. If she’s interested, she has the ability to do it, let’s put it that way.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 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
She grinned as she explained that some sculptures of famed Buddhist monk Ji Gong even showed him smiling on one side of his face and frowning on the other.
From Barron's ● Jan. 19, 2026
He leaned forward and grinned through his glorious mustache.
From "The World According to Humphrey" by Betty G. Birney
In one photo, Graham posed, grinning, holding a black P1-SUN interceptor built to bring down Russian Shahed drones.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
But it seemed more like grinning and bearing it rather than anything more upbeat.
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 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
She’s grinning because of course they fit — that was the ethos behind her design.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2026
He had acted silly even at his own wedding, grinning during the solemnities, clowning when cutting the cake.
From "Abel's Island" by William Steig
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.
