mien
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of mien
1505–15; probably aphetic variant of obsolete demean bearing, demean 2; spelled with -ie- to distinguish it from mean 2
Explanation
Your mien is how you present yourself, the impression you make. It's best to keep a low profile but a dignified mien. The source of the word mien is not completely clear, but it does involve a French word for "facial expression." A person's mien is a look or quality that tells a lot about their personalities or temperaments. A person with a cheerful mien probably radiates happiness and energy, while someone with a serious mien may have an air of being lost in thought.
Vocabulary lists containing mien
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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.
The protesters’ mien was sober, they presented themselves as adults who were morally serious, they were morally responsible and meant moral business.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 29, 2026
Squinting in the morning sun, she had bat ears, a downturned mouth and the mien of a pissed-off mother-in-law.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 28, 2025
Possessing a round and pleasant face, Kinnear does not, at first glance, seem the obvious next initiate into a society that favors the more chiseled mien.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 21, 2024
Cakes selected a clown with a gun, as De Niro’s mien scowled on the screen above.
From New York Times • Jun. 18, 2024
He walked out; and the others followed him with lugubrious mien.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson
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.
