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
- mustached adjective
Etymology
Origin of mustache
1575–85; < Middle French moustache < Italian mostaccio; 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.
Which brings up back to that 1975 photo, with the long-haired Vachon and his ferret-sized mustache looking fabulous in front of the Forum.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 12, 2026
On the US State Department's reward card, he appears with a sharp face, neatly combed hair and a thin mustache.
From Barron's • Feb. 23, 2026
His walrus mustache, once the world’s most famous facial hair, is white as winter.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 13, 2026
More recently, he posted an A.I.-generated video of himself drinking whole milk and dancing, his upper lip adorned with a milk mustache.
From Slate • Jan. 28, 2026
Uncle Solly turned from the stove, his smile bright under his big bushy mustache.
From "I Survived the Great Alaska Earthquake, 1964" by Lauren Tarshis
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.
