Word
face
US/ˈfeɪs/
UK/fˈeɪs/
Definitions
01part of the head
n. the front part of the head that has the eyes, nose, and mouth.
n. the anterior portion of the head in humans and animals, containing the sensory organs and features.
“She washed her face with cold water to wake herself up.”
“The portrait painter focused on the subtle lines around the subject's eyes to capture the character of his face.”
Synonyms
02expression
n. the look on your face that shows how you feel.
n. a facial expression indicating a specific emotion or state of mind.
“He made a funny face to make the baby laugh.”
“She pulled a long face when she heard the news, clearly disappointed by the sudden change in plans.”
Informal
Synonyms
03reputation
n. the respect that other people have for you.
n. social standing, prestige, or dignity, especially in the context of avoiding embarrassment.
“He admitted his mistake quickly to avoid losing face in front of his team.”
“In many cultures, the desire to save face can influence how business negotiations are conducted and how conflicts are resolved.”
04surface of an object
n. the front or main surface of something, like a clock or a building.
n. the principal or functional surface of an object, such as a timepiece or a geometric solid.
“The face of the old clock was covered in dust.”
“The climbers spent three days ascending the sheer granite face of the mountain before reaching the summit.”
05to look toward
v. to be positioned with the front toward a certain direction.
v. to be oriented or positioned such that the front is directed toward a specific location.
“Our hotel room faces the ocean, so we can see the sunrise.”
“The architect designed the villa so that all the main living areas face south to maximise natural light during the winter months.”
06to deal with
v. to accept or deal with a difficult situation.
v. to confront or acknowledge a difficult reality or problem that requires attention.
“You need to face your fears if you want to succeed.”
“The company must face the fact that its current business model is no longer sustainable in a digital market.”
07to have as an opponent
v. to compete against someone in a game or fight.
v. to encounter someone as an opponent in a sporting contest or legal battle.
“The team will face their rivals in the final match on Saturday.”
“The defending champion is expected to face his toughest challenger yet in the upcoming tournament's opening round.”
Etymology
From Proto-Indo-European dʰeh₁-?, via Late Latin faciēs and facia, the word passed into Old French as facebor and thence to Middle English face. The Latin faciēs meant "form, appearance," a meaning preserved in its doublet facies and in the English word’s modern sense. The term displaced earlier Old English synonyms such as anwlite and ansīen, though the German Antlitz* — from the same Proto-Indo-European root — retained the notion of facial features as a distinct lexical path.
Old English alternatives included nebb ("nose") and hlēor ("cheek"), both of which merged into the broader concept of "face" in Middle English. The term vis, borrowed from Old French vis, and chere, also from Old French chere, entered the language as competing forms, though face ultimately prevailed. The semantic shift toward "reputation" in Chinese miànzi or liǎn — literal "front of the head," metaphorical "public image" — influenced English usage in the 19th century, though this remains a secondary layer over the older morphological foundations.
The word’s core meaning, inherited from Latin, survives in its modern usage. The Chinese metaphors for social standing, however, added a new dimension to the term without altering its etymological structure. This influence is noted in phrases such as "lose face," a concept absent from the Indo-European lineage but grafted onto the word’s semantic tree in the 19th century.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Collocations
Word family
Related words
Idioms
bash someone's face in — To beat someone violently.
blow up in one's face — To fail disastrously.
boat — face
break someone's face — To beat up someone violently.
butter face — Alternative form of butterface.
close the face — To turn the face of the bat inwards, in order to hit the ball to the leg side.
cut off one's nose to spite one's face — To harm oneself as a result of attempting to harm an adversary.
face down — To confront; to abash by stern looks.
face like the back end of a bus — A very ugly face.
face that would stop a clock — A shockingly unattractive face.
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face the music — To accept or confront the unpleasant consequences of one's actions.
face value — No more or less than what is stated; a literal or direct meaning or interpretation.
fall on one's face — To fail, especially in a dramatic or particularly decisive manner.
fill one's face — To eat, especially in a hearty or greedy manner.
fly in the face of — To act in a manner highly contrary to; to counteract or contradict.
game face — The expression of one who is prepared for or is facing a lot of difficult and/or undesirable work, especially when it is imminent.
get out of my face — Stop bothering or harassing me; go away.
give face — To honor; to pay respect.
in your face — A derisive and contemptuous exclamation of triumph over one's interlocutor.
just another pretty face — Someone who is attractive, but not too distinguished in other areas.
lose face — To lose the respect of others; to be humiliated or experience public disgrace.
loss of face — Loss of the respect of others, humiliation, public disgrace.
make faces — Alternative form of make a face.
not just a pretty face — Something that is more useful, versatile, or intrinsically valuable than might be assumed.
pull a face — To make an abnormal facial expression, either intentionally or because of an emotion.
pull faces — To make abnormal facial expressions, especially for amusement or to ridicule another person.
red face test — A hypothetical test of a person's embarrassment that is either passed or failed. Saying one passes the red face test means one would not blush and thus would not be embarrassed by disclosing something to others or doing something, and saying one fails the red face test means a situation would cause them discernible embarrassment.
rip someone's face off — To castigate someone very angrily.
save face — To take an action or make a gesture intended to preserve one's reputation or honour.
save someone's face — to preserve someone's pride, especially as defined by customary social settings.
shut one's face — To stop talking; to be quiet.
smash someone's face in — To beat someone violently.
straight face — A face that is expressionless, especially not laughing.
stuff one's face — To eat excessively.
suck face — To kiss, especially deeply and for a prolonged time.
until one is blue in the face — For a hopelessly long time; used especially in respect to discussing, explaining, insisting, etc.
written all over someone's face — Very obvious, from someone's facial expression.