mustache
Americannoun
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the hair growing on the upper lip
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such hair on men, allowed to grow without shaving, and often trimmed in any of various shapes.
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hairs or bristles growing near the mouth of an animal.
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a stripe of color, or elongated feathers, suggestive of a mustache on the side of the head of a bird.
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something resembling a mustache, as food or drink adhering to the upper lip.
a mustache of milk.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of mustache
1575–85; < Middle French moustache < Italian mostaccio; see mustachio
Explanation
A mustache is hair that grows between a person's nose and mouth. Some mustaches are as thin as a pencil line, while others are bushy and full. Salvador Dali was known for his long, curled mustache. If you're trying to grow a mustache, you might start by shaving all your facial hair except the strands that grow above your upper lip. When your mustache becomes luxuriant and ample, you can trim it with scissors and style it with mustache wax. The word mustache comes from the French moustache, which has a Greek root, mystax, "upper lip."
Vocabulary lists containing mustache
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.
I guess that’s best-case scenario, but I still try to walk around with a mustache and glasses and a hat and they’re still like, “Hey ...!”
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 4, 2026
As he posed for pictures at the gun counter, Bianco accused Hilton, a political commentator, of growing a beard to compete with the mustache Bianco first grew as a teenager.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 27, 2026
There is some debate over what to call Bianco’s mustache, which he said he grooms himself with scissors.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 27, 2026
Some swear it’s a walrus mustache in the style of Wilford Brimley or Teddy Roosevelt, while others argue it’s a horseshoe version like the one worn by Hulk Hogan.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 27, 2026
His mustache drooped like the whiskers of a catfish.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
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.
