face

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noun

1 front part of the head

ADJECTIVE

▪ angelic, beautiful, cute, handsome, lovely, perfect, pleasant, pretty, sweet

▪ plain, terrible, ugly

▪ colourless/colorless, grey/gray, pale, pallid, white

▪ flushed, pink, red, ruddy

▪

Her face was flushed after her run.

▪ tanned

▪ dark

▪ sallow

▪ heart-shaped, oval, round, square

▪ bearded, freckled, unshaven

▪ smooth

▪ lined, wrinkled

▪ pock-marked

▪ fat, plump

▪

She had a plump, pretty face.

▪ gaunt, haggard, lean, pinched, thin, wizened

▪ craggy, rugged

▪

a craggy face with deep-set eyes and bushy brows

▪ delicate

▪ elfin

▪

Her short hair suited her elfin face.

▪ baby

▪ painted

▪ happy, smiling

▪ tear-stained, tear-streaked (esp. AmE)

▪ human

VERB + FACE

▪ have

▪

She has a beautiful, oval face.

▪ tilt, turn

▪

She turned her face away.

▪

He tilted her face up to his.

▪ bury, cover, hide

FACE + VERB

▪ look, peer, stare

▪

A face peered around the door at him.

▪ appear

PREPOSITION

▪ in the/sb's face

▪

The ball hit him in the face.

▪

His eyes were sunken in his gaunt face.

▪ on the/sb's face

▪

She put some powder on her face.

PHRASES

▪ a sea of faces (= many faces)

▪

From the stage, he looked down at a sea of faces.

2 expression on sb's face

ADJECTIVE

▪ animated, cheerful, friendly, grinning, happy, radiant, smiling

▪

the sight of Sarah's smiling face beaming up at him

▪ smiley

▪

She drew a little yellow smiley face.

▪ anxious, concerned, troubled, worried

▪ frightened, shocked, surprised

▪ disgusted

▪

She made a disgusted face at that and walked away.

▪ angry, furious

▪ hard, set, stern

▪

His face was set and hard.

▪ grave, grim, serious, solemn

▪ long, sad

▪

The news for the company isn't good, judging from the long faces in the boardroom.

▪ tired

▪ funny

▪

She made a funny face and gave a snorting sort of laugh.

▪ honest, innocent, kind

▪ expectant

▪ rapt

▪ expressive, open

▪

She looked at the honest, open face of her husband.

▪ blank, expressionless, impassive, poker

▪

His face remained impassive, so strong was his self-control.

VERB + FACE

▪ make, pull

▪

What are you pulling a face at now?

▪ search

▪

He searched her face for some clue as to what she meant.

▪ appear on, cross, spread across

▪

A slight smirk appeared on his face.

▪

A wry smile crossed his face.

FACE + VERB

▪ look, seem

▪

His face looked a little confused.

▪ grow, turn

▪

Her face suddenly grew serious.

▪ brighten, glow, light up

▪

Her little face lit up when I gave her the present.

▪ beam, smile

▪

The face smiled benignly at him.

▪ break into a smile

▪

Her face broke into a wide smile.

▪ cloud, crumple, drop, fall

▪

Her face crumpled and she started crying.

▪

‘I can't come,’ she said. His face fell.

▪ clear

▪

His face cleared and she smiled back.

▪ darken, harden, set

▪

Her face darkened with anger.

▪

His face set in grim lines.

▪ soften

▪

The father's face softened as he hugged his little boy.

▪ burn, flame, flush, go red, redden

▪

Jack's face flushed with embarrassment.

▪ go white, pale

▪

Her face paled with fright.

▪ contort, crease, pucker, tighten, twist

▪

Her face contorted in pain.

▪ betray sth, reveal sth, show sth

▪

Her face betrayed no emotion at all.

PREPOSITION

▪ on sb's face

▪

She had a big smile on her face.

PHRASES

▪ a face like thunder (= a very angry face) (BrE)

▪

Mr Hibbs came in with a face like thunder.

▪ keep a straight face (= not laugh or smile, although you find sth funny)

▪ an/the expression on sb's face, a/the look on sb's face

▪

The look on his face was priceless.

▪ a grin on sb's face, a smile on sb's face, a smirk on sb's face

▪ a frown on sb's face

▪

He had a slight frown on his face.

3 front part/side of sth

ADJECTIVE

▪ front, rear

▪ North, South, etc.

▪ steep

▪

We slowly climbed the steep face of the crag.

▪ cliff, rock

▪ clock

PHRASES

▪ face down, face downwards/downward

▪

She placed the cards face down on the table.

▪ face up, face upwards/upward

4 person

ADJECTIVE

▪ familiar, old

▪

I looked around for a familiar face.

▪

I'm so bored with seeing the same old faces!

▪ different, fresh, new, strange, unfamiliar

▪ famous, well-known

▪

a restaurant where you often see famous faces

VERB + FACE

▪ see

5 particular character/aspect of sth

ADJECTIVE

▪ human

▪

bureaucracy with a human face

▪ acceptable, unacceptable (both esp. BrE)

▪

Social deprivation is the unacceptable face of capitalism.

▪ public

▪

He has become the public face of the company.

▪ true

▪ changing

▪

the changing face of Britain

▪ entire, whole

▪

This discovery changed the whole face of science.

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verb

Face is used with these nouns as the subject: ↑challenge, ↑country, ↑danger, ↑dilemma, ↑door, ↑flat, ↑house, ↑immigrant, ↑industry, ↑issue, ↑palm, ↑peril, ↑problem, ↑room, ↑task, ↑wall, ↑window

Face is used with these nouns as the object: ↑accusation, ↑allegation, ↑altar, ↑annihilation, ↑army, ↑arrest, ↑assault, ↑axe, ↑backlash, ↑bankruptcy, ↑barrage, ↑barrier, ↑batter, ↑battle, ↑bill, ↑blackboard, ↑camera, ↑catastrophe, ↑censure, ↑challenge, ↑challenger, ↑chaos, ↑charge, ↑choice, ↑closure, ↑collapse, ↑competition, ↑competitor, ↑consequence, ↑constraint, ↑court martial, ↑courtyard, ↑crisis, ↑criticism, ↑cross-examination, ↑crossroads, ↑crowd, ↑cut, ↑danger, ↑deadline, ↑death, ↑decision, ↑defeat, ↑deficit, ↑delay, ↑demand, ↑demon, ↑deportation, ↑depression, ↑destiny, ↑detention, ↑difficulty, ↑dilemma, ↑direction, ↑disadvantage, ↑disappointment, ↑disaster, ↑discrimination, ↑dismissal, ↑enemy, ↑enquiry, ↑eviction, ↑execution, ↑expulsion, ↑extinction, ↑extradition, ↑fact, ↑famine, ↑fate, ↑fear, ↑fight, ↑fine, ↑firing squad, ↑future, ↑hardship, ↑hazard, ↑hostility, ↑humiliation, ↑hurdle, ↑imprisonment, ↑indictment, ↑intimidation, ↑issue, ↑jail, ↑justice, ↑limitation, ↑mankind, ↑mirror, ↑mountain, ↑mutiny, ↑nightmare, ↑obstacle, ↑onslaught, ↑opponent, ↑opposition, ↑oppression, ↑ordeal, ↑penalty, ↑peril, ↑persecution, ↑pitcher, ↑possibility, ↑predicament, ↑prejudice, ↑pressure, ↑prison, ↑problem, ↑prosecution, ↑prospect, ↑punishment, ↑question, ↑questioning, ↑reality, ↑rear, ↑redundancy, ↑repatriation, ↑reprisal, ↑resistance, ↑retaliation, ↑revolt, ↑ridicule, ↑rigour, ↑risk, ↑rival, ↑roadblock, ↑ruin, ↑sack, ↑scrutiny, ↑sentence, ↑setback, ↑shake-up, ↑shortage, ↑showdown, ↑situation, ↑spectre, ↑starvation, ↑storm, ↑struggle, ↑suit, ↑suspension, ↑task, ↑termination, ↑test, ↑threat, ↑tragedy, ↑trauma, ↑trial, ↑tribunal, ↑truth, ↑uncertainty, ↑unemployment, ↑unknown, ↑wait, ↑wall, ↑world, ↑wrath