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Recent Examples of rictus
The Mirror and the Light opens with that profoundly disturbing execution, Foy a pale rictus of fear and vulnerability as she is led to the block, where she is blindfolded and positioned before the executioner’s sword.
—
Taylor Antrim, Vogue, 20 Mar. 2025
With their teeth bared in a frozen rictus grin, this couple appears to be hiding a darkness which we are left only to guess at.
—Naomi Fry, The New Yorker, 15 Mar. 2025
Distorted and exaggerated by Weegee’s hand—with grins set in a chilling rictus, or eyes and noses spread wide and pancaked—these idols became monsters.
—Naomi Fry, The New Yorker, 22 Feb. 2025
The entire final sequence, which sees Carter, with a rictus grin, slaughtering his wife in the kitchen, envisions the self-destruction of the nuclear family.
—Beatrice Loayza, Vulture, 14 Feb. 2025
When Martin dies in class after getting frightened in a dream, the sheet is accidentally pulled off of his gurney to reveal his death rictus.
—Jesse David Fox, Vulture, 17 Dec. 2024
McAvoy’s gift for a rictus grin and a swaggering machismo that eases you into feeling comfortable, only to twist on a 180 into pure psychopathy, is well-played here.
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 10 Sep. 2024
In its promos and trailers, Neon has deftly concealed what Cage’s character — a basement dweller who lives for the devil and has stringy, white hair and a rictus grin — actually looks like.
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 8 July 2024
These include a chocolate-brown safe about five feet tall that reveals itself to be full of bobbleheads, the tottering rictus of Suns-era Stephon Marbury peering out at me from the dark.
—Giri Nathan, Vulture, 22 Mar. 2024
Taylor Antrim, Vogue, 20 Mar. 2025
With their teeth bared in a frozen rictus grin, this couple appears to be hiding a darkness which we are left only to guess at.
—Naomi Fry, The New Yorker, 15 Mar. 2025
Distorted and exaggerated by Weegee’s hand—with grins set in a chilling rictus, or eyes and noses spread wide and pancaked—these idols became monsters.
—Naomi Fry, The New Yorker, 22 Feb. 2025
The entire final sequence, which sees Carter, with a rictus grin, slaughtering his wife in the kitchen, envisions the self-destruction of the nuclear family.
—Beatrice Loayza, Vulture, 14 Feb. 2025
When Martin dies in class after getting frightened in a dream, the sheet is accidentally pulled off of his gurney to reveal his death rictus.
—Jesse David Fox, Vulture, 17 Dec. 2024
McAvoy’s gift for a rictus grin and a swaggering machismo that eases you into feeling comfortable, only to twist on a 180 into pure psychopathy, is well-played here.
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 10 Sep. 2024
In its promos and trailers, Neon has deftly concealed what Cage’s character — a basement dweller who lives for the devil and has stringy, white hair and a rictus grin — actually looks like.
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 8 July 2024
These include a chocolate-brown safe about five feet tall that reveals itself to be full of bobbleheads, the tottering rictus of Suns-era Stephon Marbury peering out at me from the dark.
—Giri Nathan, Vulture, 22 Mar. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rictus
Noun
-
Little things, like the close-ups of Moss’s face with her little smirk, used so frequently as to lose all meaning, began to irritate me.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
11 Apr. 2025
-
The fifth season began with the smirk seen ’round the globe, pitting June Osborne (Moss) against Serena Joy Waterford (Yvonne Strahovski).—
Jackie Strause,
The Hollywood Reporter,
19 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
Severe storms along the southeast coast Monday have also caused snarls for travelers, with over 6,300 flights within, into, or out of the US delayed Monday, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.—
Mary Gilbert,
CNN Money,
7 Apr. 2025
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The animals’ golden-brown fur is matted with blood, their muzzles locked in an eternal snarl.—
Cecilia Rodriguez,
Forbes,
6 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
But the moralistic sneer didn’t take long to enter the postgame analysis.—
Zak Garner-Purkis,
Forbes,
23 Mar. 2025
-
The male characters are, typically, petulant narcissists with perpetual sneers who insult and cajole their female love interests into almost invariably unhealthy relationships.—
Josh Bell,
Vulture,
13 Feb. 2025
Noun
-
The Republican panelist, 53, dramatically swooned into the back of her chair after Jordan, 38, chose to lean forward and give her his best vampiric growl while discussing the Prohibition-era vampire horror film on Monday.—
Emlyn Travis,
EW.com,
7 Apr. 2025
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Broody hens also cluck in a low tone, growl at other chickens when approached, and may keep their wings outstretched and their feathers puffed up.—
Thomas G. Moukawsher,
Newsweek,
21 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
Sandoval, in comparison, sneers and simpers to no success whatsoever; his bad behavior, on and off The Traitors, yields nothing.—
Fran Hoepfner,
Vulture,
20 Feb. 2025
-
Today’s announcement marks the emergence of a new GE, a high-tech industrial GE — simper, stronger, a more focused company at the core.—
Jon Chesto,
BostonGlobe.com,
26 June 2018
Cite this Entry
“Rictus.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rictus. Accessed 25 Apr. 2025.
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