noun
1 on sb's face
ADJECTIVE
▪ neutral
▪ blank , dazed , glazed , vacant
▪
They all just looked at me with blank ~s.
▪ deadpan
▪
He cracks jokes with a deadpan ~ on his face.
▪ curious , enigmatic , inscrutable , odd , strange , unreadable
▪ calm
▪ guarded
▪ thoughtful
▪ dreamy , wistful
▪ doubtful , wary
▪ anxious , concerned , troubled , worried
▪ bleak , grim , serious
▪ annoyed
▪ angry , fierce , furious , stern
▪ hangdog , hurt , melancholy , mournful , pained , sad
▪
He hung around with this pathetic hangdog ~ on his face.
▪ intense , rapt
▪ horrified , shocked , stunned , surprised
▪ baffled , bemused , bewildered , confused , puzzled , quizzical
▪ alert
▪ bored
▪ amused , wry
▪ benign , sympathetic
▪ satisfied , smug
▪ innocent
▪ fleeting
▪ facial
▪
The actors's gestures and facial ~s are perfect.
VERB + EXPRESSION
▪ have , hold , wear
▪
She had a very bewildered ~ on her face.
▪
The children's faces all wore the same rapt ~.
▪ assume , put on
▪
She carefully put on her most innocent ~.
▪ take on
▪
Rose's face took on the fierce ~ of a schoolgirl talking about her most hated teacher.
▪ show
▪
His face showed no ~.
▪ catch , notice , see
▪
Catching a fleeting ~ on Lucy's face, she persisted with her question.
▪ examine , observe , watch
▪ gauge , read
▪
I looked at her, trying to read the ~ on her face.
▪ change
▪
His face never changed ~.
EXPRESSION + VERB
▪ alter , change
▪
His ~ changed to embarrassment.
▪ grow … , turn …
▪
His ~ grew thoughtful.
▪
Her ~ suddenly turned serious.
▪ remain sth
▪ relax , soften
▪
His ~ softened when he saw her.
▪ darken , harden
▪
Her ~ hardened into one of strong dislike.
▪ freeze
▪ betray sth , reveal sth , show sth , suggest sth , tell sb sth
▪
Her ~ betrayed nothing of her thoughts.
▪
His grim ~ told her it would be useless.
▪ cross sth , flit across sth
▪
She had been watching the ~ that crossed his face.
▪ appear on sth
▪
A surprised ~ appeared on her face.
PREPOSITION
▪ without ~
▪
‘Go on,’ she said, without ~.
▪ ~ of
▪
He wore an ~ of anxiety on his face.
PHRASES
▪ the ~ in sb's eyes , the ~ on sb's face
▪
He looked at her with a very strange ~ in his eyes.
2 showing feelings/ideas
ADJECTIVE
▪ clear
▪
Her statement was a clear ~ of her views on this subject.
▪ concrete , material , practical , tangible
▪
The report gave concrete ~ to the fears of many immigrants.
▪ direct
▪
Just because there is no direct ~ of prejudice, that does not mean the prejudice does not exist.
▪ full
▪
The new concept of form reached its fullest ~ in the work of Picasso.
▪ highest , perfect , ultimate
▪
His highest ~ of praise was ‘Not bad!’
▪
the highest ~ of human creativity
▪ effective , powerful
▪ simple
▪ natural
▪
He wanted to write a verse drama in which the verse would seem a natural ~ of modern life.
▪ spontaneous
▪ free
▪
the right of free ~
▪ open , overt , public
▪
the open ~ of emotion
▪ outward
▪
the outward ~ of inner emotional feelings
▪ formal
▪ characteristic , classic
▪
Modernism was the characteristic ~ of the experience of modernity.
▪ unique
▪ collective
▪
The harvest festival was the occasion for the collective ~ of a community's religious values.
▪ individual , personal
▪
to allow scope for individual ~
▪ visible , visual
▪ emotional , physical , sexual
▪ oral ( esp. AmE ), verbal , written
▪
the verbal ~ of one's feelings
▪
A constitution is the written ~ of the people's will.
▪ artistic , creative , cultural , linguistic , literary , musical , poetic , political , religious
▪ human
VERB + EXPRESSION
▪ achieve , find , reach , receive
▪
an anger and frustration that finds ~ in (= is shown in) violence
▪ give sth
▪
Only in his dreams does he give ~ to his fears.
PREPOSITION
▪ beyond ~
▪
She suddenly felt happy beyond ~ (= so happy that she could not express it) .
PHRASES
▪ freedom of ~
▪
Freedom of ~ (= freedom to say what you think) is a basic human right.
▪ a means of ~
▪
Words, as a means of ~, can be limiting.
3 words
ADJECTIVE
▪ common
▪ colloquial , slang , vernacular
▪ vulgar
▪ strange , unusual
▪ favourite/favorite
▪ figurative , idiomatic , metaphorical
▪ American , English , etc.
▪ geographical
▪
Until the mid-nineteenth century, ‘Italy’ was just a geographical ~.
VERB + EXPRESSION
▪ use
▪
He tends to use strange ~s like ‘It's enough to make a cat laugh’.
▪ hear
▪
I've not heard that ~ before.
EXPRESSION + VERB
▪ mean sth