The look on your face — sad, happy, bored, amused — is an expression. Your expression lets people know what you're feeling, unless you're good at hiding your emotions.

Expression comes from a Latin word meaning “to press out” and it can still be used this way. If you make fresh orange juice, your juicer helps with the expression of the juice from the fruit. If someone uses art to express their feelings about the world, that's artistic self-expression: something felt inside has been brought out and shared. We also use expression for ways of saying something, like the expression "what's up?"

Primary Meanings of expression

a word or phrase that particular people use in particular situations
the feelings expressed on a person's face
a group of symbols that make a mathematical statement
(genetics) the process of expressing a gene
the act of forcing something out by squeezing or pressing
Full Definitions of expression

n the communication (in speech or writing) of your beliefs or opinions

expressions of good will”
“he helped me find verbal expression for my ideas”
verbal expression, verbalism
articulation, voice
expressing in coherent verbal form
cold turkey
a blunt expression of views
congratulation, felicitation
Type of:
communicating, communication
the activity of communicating; the activity of conveying information

n expression without words

“tears are an expression of grief”
manifestation, reflection, reflexion
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lamentation, mourning
the passionate and demonstrative activity of expressing grief
a manifestation of insincerity
blowup, ebullition, effusion, gush, outburst
an unrestrained expression of emotion
acting out
a fit of weeping
a sudden outburst
a sudden outburst of emotion
Type of:
demo, demonstration
a visual presentation showing how something works

n the style of expressing yourself

“his manner of expression showed how much he cared”
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an expression of respect
archaicism, archaism
the use of an archaic expression
idiom, parlance
an expression that is characteristic of English as spoken by Americans
Anglicism, Briticism, Britishism
choice of words, diction, phraseology, phrasing, verbiage, wording
the manner in which something is expressed in words
glop, mush, slop, treacle
writing or music that is excessively sweet and sentimental
mot juste
the appropriate word or expression
verbalisation, verbalization
the words that are spoken in the activity of verbalization
Type of:
expressive style, style

n a word or phrase that particular people use in particular situations

“pardon the expression
locution, saying
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calque, calque formation, loan translation
an expression introduced into one language by translating it from another language
advice and consent
a legal expression in the United States Constitution that allows the Senate to constrain the President's powers of appointment and treaty-making
an expression whose meaning cannot be determined from its context
an offensive or disparaging expression that is substituted for an inoffensive one
an expression of disappointment or irritation
tongue twister
an expression that is difficult to articulate clearly
anatomical, anatomical reference
an expression that relates to anatomy
a locution or pronunciation peculiar to the southern United States
catchword, motto, shibboleth, slogan
a favorite saying of a sect or political group
axiom, maxim
a saying that is widely accepted on its own merits
epigram, quip
a witty saying
adage, byword, proverb, saw
idiom, idiomatic expression, phrasal idiom, phrase, set phrase
sayings of Jesus not recorded in the canonical Gospels
bus, heap, jalopy
a car that is old and unreliable
an ambiguity (especially one in the text of a law or contract) that makes it possible to evade a difficulty or obligation
amphibology, amphiboly
an ambiguous grammatical construction; e.g., `they are flying planes' can mean either that someone is flying planes or that something is flying planes
the use of ambiguous words
double entendre
an ambiguity with one interpretation that is indelicate
catch phrase, catchphrase
a phrase that has become a catchword
a commonly repeated word or phrase
battle cry, cry, rallying cry, war cry, watchword
a slogan used to rally support for a cause
aphorism, apophthegm, apothegm
a short pithy instructive saying
a short pithy saying expressing a general truth
a moral maxim
ruralism, rusticism
a rural idiom or expression
old man
an informal term for your father
Type of:
(language) communication by word of mouth

n the feelings expressed on a person's face

“a sad expression
aspect, face, facial expression, look
a suggestive or sneering look or grin
light, spark, sparkle, twinkle
merriment expressed by a brightness or gleam or animation of countenance
Type of:
countenance, visage
the appearance conveyed by a person's face

n a group of symbols that make a mathematical statement

sentential function
formal expression containing variables; becomes a sentence when variables are replaced by constants
a mathematical expression from which another expression is derived
exponential expression
a mathematical expression consisting of a constant (especially e) raised to some power
Type of:
mathematical statement
a statement of a mathematical relation


construction, grammatical construction
an ungrammatical constituent
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a word or phrase used to complete a grammatical construction
a long and intricate and complicated grammatical construction
an expression that predicates
independent clause, main clause
a clause in a complex sentence that can stand alone as a complete sentence
coordinate clause
dependent clause, subordinate clause
relative clause
a clause introduced by a relative pronoun
parenthetical, parenthetical expression
an expression in parentheses
nominal, nominal phrase, noun phrase
predicate, verb phrase
prepositional phrase
a phrase beginning with a preposition
pronominal, pronominal phrase
a phrase that functions as a pronoun
catch phrase, catchphrase
a phrase that has become a catchword
Type of:
constituent, grammatical constituent

n (genetics) the process of expressing a gene

Type of:
biological process, organic process
a process occurring in living organisms

n the act of forcing something out by squeezing or pressing

“the expression of milk from her breast”
Type of:
squeeze, squeezing
the act of gripping and pressing firmly

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