face noun
1 front part of the head
ADJ. angelic, beautiful, handsome, lovely, pleasant, pretty, sweet | plain, ugly, terrible | colourless, grey, 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 | lined, wrinkled | pock-marked, raddled | 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 | elfin Her short hair suited her elfin face. | painted | happy, smiling | tear-stained, tear-streaked | human
VERB + FACE tilt, turn She turned her face away. He tilted her face up to his.
FACE + VERB look, peer, stare A face peered round the door at him.
PREP. in the/sb's ~ The ball hit him in the face. His eyes were sunken in his gaunt face. | on the/sb's ~ She put some powder on her face.
PHRASES a sea of faces (= a large crowd of faces) From the stage, he looked down at a sea of faces.
2 expression on sb's face
ADJ. animated, cheerful, friendly, grinning, happy, radiant, smiling | anxious, frightened, troubled | angry, furious | hard, set, stern His face was set and hard. | grave, serious | long, sad The news for the company isn't good, judging from the long faces in the boardroom. | funny She made a funny face and gave a snorting sort of laugh. | honest, kind | expectant | rapt | expressive, open She looked at the honest, open face of her husband. | blank, expressionless, impassive 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.
FACE + VERB brighten, glow, light up Her little face lit up when I gave her the present. | beam, smile The face smiled benignly at him. | 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. | flame, flush, go red, redden Jack's face flushed with embarrassment. | pale Her face paled with fright. | contort, crease, pucker, tighten, twist Her face contorted in pain. | betray sth, reveal sth Her face betrayed no emotion at all.
PREP. on sb's ~ She had a big smile on her face.
PHRASES a face like thunder (= a very angry face) Mr Hibbs came in with a face like thunder.
3 front part/side of sth
ADJ. front, rear | North, South, etc. | steep We slowly climbed the steep face of the crag. | cliff, rock | clock
PHRASES face down/downwards, face up/upwards She placed the cards face downwards on the table.
4 person
ADJ. familiar, (same) 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
ADJ. human bureaucracy with a human face | acceptable | unacceptable Social deprivation is the unacceptable face of capitalism. | true | changing the changing face of Britain
You can also check other dicts: face (English, 中文解释 ), wordnet sense, Collins Definition