mien
Americannoun
-
miens
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
See Examples For:
It brings me no pleasure to report that Trump possessed the perfect mien for the performance of wrestling.
From Slate ● Jun. 11, 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
The directors, called to an emergency meeting at the home of the chairman of the board of the American Steel Corp., have the haughty mien of British aristocrats.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 16, 2025
It captures some of the inquisitive humanity that Steinmetz, a tall and direct people’s person with a John Malkovich mien, conveys in life.
From New York Times ● Nov. 23, 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
The events of the past week have shocked countries with typically pacifist miens, as well as those more closely aligned with Russia.
From New York Times ● Feb. 27, 2022
The cheerful, demonstrative callowness of Herring’s Joey makes for an apt-enough contrast with the miens of the older figures, and Carpenter’s Mark is a sensitive, thoughtful foil to everyone else.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 5, 2015
Here were traditional outsiders, some of them outspoken victims of childhood bullying, who, twenty years ago, were dismissed by the jock establishment for bringing their alternative fashion sense and disaffected miens to an Olympic-style competition.
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 17, 2014
Instead sharp beaks, rough-hewed black feathers and wary miens define the latest creations from Handspring Puppet Company: crows, a far cry from the majestic title creatures in “War Horse,” a hit here and on Broadway.
From New York Times ● Jul. 6, 2012
Their manners and miens reflected the Spartan personal discipline the organization demanded, and none of them would utter anything but Nation of Islam cliches.
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
