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Recent Examples of rictus
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
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, 12 July 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
Coverage of his personal appearances focused on his obvious discomfort in meeting with strangers and his fruitless efforts to laugh or even crack a smile, which tended to produce only a hideous facial rictus.
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 22 Jan. 2024
Portman and Moore don’t look like average women but resemble drag queens specializing in stealthy passion and uneasy self-control — one a professional parasite and the other a pathetic sociopath, each fronting rictus grins.
—Armond White, National Review, 10 Jan. 2024
Charles is all neurosis and shame, hunched over, face frozen in a rictus of repulsion at his own existence, worried constantly about rejection.
—Isaac Butler, The New Yorker, 1 Dec. 2023
Jesse David Fox, Vulture, 17 Dec. 2024
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, 12 July 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
Coverage of his personal appearances focused on his obvious discomfort in meeting with strangers and his fruitless efforts to laugh or even crack a smile, which tended to produce only a hideous facial rictus.
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 22 Jan. 2024
Portman and Moore don’t look like average women but resemble drag queens specializing in stealthy passion and uneasy self-control — one a professional parasite and the other a pathetic sociopath, each fronting rictus grins.
—Armond White, National Review, 10 Jan. 2024
Charles is all neurosis and shame, hunched over, face frozen in a rictus of repulsion at his own existence, worried constantly about rejection.
—Isaac Butler, The New Yorker, 1 Dec. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rictus
Noun
-
Alexander said with a smirk during the postgame news conference.—
Anthony De Leon,
Los Angeles Times,
19 Dec. 2024
-
It is dipped in Grinch-green icing with a frosting smirk, tuft of hair and the classic yellow eyes.—
Sabrina Weiss,
People.com,
25 Nov. 2024
Noun
-
Monsters snarl, roar, and go bump in the night, but the racist humans Atticus encounters are just as monstrous, and the contrast works.—
Chris Snellgrove,
EW.com,
22 Dec. 2024
-
One approach, adopted by Lynda Benglis, Urs Fischer, and Christopher Wool, involves digitally capturing a chance form—a squeeze of clay, a snarl of wire—then enlarging that scan to monumental proportions, both dramatizing and satirizing the superpowers that artists now have at their disposal.—
Glenn Adamson,
ARTnews.com,
16 Dec. 2024
Noun
-
Ruby’s face hardened, her lips twisting into a sneer.—
Lizz Schumer,
People.com,
2 Jan. 2025
-
Donning false teeth and a homicidal sneer, Dafoe embodied pure evil in Lynch’s crazed road movie, starring opposite Laura Dern and Nicolas Cage.—
Chris Vognar,
Los Angeles Times,
31 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Beginning at the very apex of his falsetto, Hawkins tears through his ode to a life-changing love with an impassioned vocal performance that peppers his slight drawl with histrionic growls, effortlessly matching the rousing energy of the track’s instrumentation.—
Michael Saponara,
Billboard,
3 Sep. 2019
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This Max Max style road race never fails to elicit gasps of wonder and growls of friendly frustration when the dice come up in an unexpected way.—
Rob Wieland,
Forbes,
7 Dec. 2024
Noun
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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
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Al Capone lived as a schoolyard bully, died in a simper with a brain et by syphilis, and lives on through eternity as a cigarillo mascot and gimme film role for dark-haired white actors who want a chance to really chew some scenery.—
Paul Dailing,
Chicago Reader,
21 Dec. 2017
Thesaurus Entries Near rictus
Cite this Entry
“Rictus.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rictus. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025.
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