Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Grinning |
GrinningNoun1. A facial expression characterized by turning up the corners of the mouth; usually shows pleasure or amusement. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "grinning" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references) |
Synonyms: GrinningSynonyms: grin (n), smile (n), smiling (n). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Grinning |
| English words defined with "grinning": Agrin ♦ freshly ♦ Grinningly ♦ impertinently, impudently ♦ pertly ♦ saucily. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "grinning": Cat Proverbs ♦ FLICKERING ♦ GRINAGOG ♦ Skull ♦ THE CAT'S UNCLE. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "grinning": Grin. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | You know, that was the hardest part about having to betray you, grinning like an idiot every fifteen minutes (Mission: Impossible II; writing credit: Bruce Geller; Ronald D. Moore) What you grinning at, you ghost (Field of Dreams; writing credit: Phil Alden Robinson) So now it was to be Georgie the General, saying what we should do and what not to do, with Dim as his mindless grinning bulldog (A Clockwork Orange; writing credit: Stanley Kubrick) | |
Lyrics | I see booby grinning (Hey Ma; performing artist: Cam'ron) Wide Eyed And Grinning, She Never Tired (Wide Open Spaces; performing artist: DIXIE CHICKS) Wide-eyed and grinning she never tired ("Wide Open Spaces"; performing artist: Dixie Chicks) Or ask the grinning bobcat why he grinned (Colors of the wind; performing artist: Vanessa Williams) | |
Movie/TV Titles | 8051 Grinning (1972) Grinning Guns (1927) The Grinning Granger (1920) Grinning Evil Death (1990) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Music |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Stop grinning, you blasted heathen idol. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |  |
| "Carl grinning" by Loretta Humble Commentary: "I told my friend Carl we needed some emotions expressed. I'm not sure this is what you all had in mind." | "Sheep" by Christoph Burgdorfer Commentary: "A sheep grinning right into my camera... ." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | He stood in the tent, grinning, and his hands pivoted restlessly on his wrists |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Grinning" is generally used as a lexical verb (-ing form) -- approximately 90.58% of the time. "Grinning" is used about 551 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Lexical Verb (-ing form) | 90.58% | 499 | 12,058 |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 6.52% | 36 | 57,479 |
| Noun (proper) | 2.54% | 14 | 93,893 |
| Noun (singular) | 0.36% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Total | 100.00% | 551 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "grinning": constantly-grinning. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
ghost grim grinning | 9 |
grinning horse production | 6 |
grinning mob schedule | 5 |
demon grinning | 3 |
grinning shark | 2 |
grinning | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "grinning"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Chinese | 咧嘴 (grin, Grinned, GRINS). (various references) | |
Finnish | irvissä suin, ikenet irvissä. (various references) | |
German | grinsend (smirking, sneering), angrinsend (grinning at). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | にも拘らず (broad grin, cat meow, in spite of, mewing, nevertheless, slitheringly). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | にやにや (broad grin). (various references) | |
Korean | 씩 웃음. (various references) | |
Manx | gyrnal (grin, growl, snarl, snarling). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | inninggray.(various references) | |
Romanian | rânjit. (various references) | |
Turkish | sırıtma (grin, smirk). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "grinning": grinningly. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "grinning": chagrinning, outgrinning. (additional references) | |
| |
"Grinning" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: girning, grincing, grining, grinnin, grinnings, grinzing, Rinning. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "grinning" (pronounced gri"ning) |
| 4 | -i" n i ng | beginning, binning, Dinning, finning, ginning, inning, pinning, sinning, spinning, thinning, winning. |
| 3 | -n i ng | apportioning, abstaining, abandoning, adjoining, adjourning, aligning, ascertaining, assigning, attaining, auctioning, auditioning, awakening, awning, ballooning, banning, bargaining, battening, beckoning, bemoaning, blackening, bludgeoning, boning, branning, brightening, brining, broadening, Browning, burdening, burgeoning, burning, campaigning, caning, Canning, captioning, careening, cartooning, cautioning, chaining, championing, chaperoning, cheapening, christening, churning, cleaning, cloning, clowning, coarsening, cocooning, coining, combining, commissioning, complaining, concerning, conditioning, condoning, confining, conning, constraining, containing, convening, Corning, couponing, crooning, crowning, cunning, cushioning, dampening, darkening, dawning, deadening, deafening, declining, decommissioning, deepening, defining, demeaning, Denning, designing, detaining, determining, dining, discerning, disciplining, disdaining, disheartening, disillusioning, divining, donning, Downing, draining, droning, drowning, Dunning, Durning, earning, enjoining, enlightening, entertaining, envisioning, evening, examining, explaining, fanning, fashioning, fastening, fattening, fawning, feigning, fining, flattening, freshening, frightening, frowning, functioning, gaining, gardening, glistening, governing, greening, groaning, gunning, happening, hardening, hastening, headlining, heartening, heightening, honing, Horning, housecleaning, imagining, imprisoning, impugning, intertwining, intervening, intoning, ironing, jawboning, jettisoning, joining, Kenning, leaning, learning, leavening, lengthening, lessening, lightening, lightning, likening, lining, listening, loaning, loosening, machining, maddening, maintaining, malfunctioning, Manning, margining, meaning, mentioning, midmorning, mining, moaning, morning, motioning, mourning, obtaining, opening, opining, ordaining, orphaning, outlining, overrunning, overtraining, overturning, owning, panning, pardoning, partitioning, penning, pertaining, petitioning, phoning, pining, planning, poisoning, positioning, postponing, preening, preplanning, provisioning, pruning, quarantining, questioning, quickening, raining, rationing, realigning, reasoning, reassigning, reawakening, reckoning, reclining, reconditioning, redefining, redesigning, redlining, reexamining, refining, refraining, regaining, reigning, reining, rejoining, relearning, remaining, reopening, repositioning, rerunning, resigning, restraining, retaining, retraining, returning, rezoning, ripening, ruining, running, saddening, sanctioning, scanning, screening, seasoning, sectioning, sharpening, shining, shortening, shunning, sickening, signing, siphoning, slackening, softening, spanning, spawning, spurning, staining, stationing, stiffening, stoning, straightening, straining, streamlining, strengthening, stunning, summoning, sunning, sustaining, sweetening, swooning, tanning, telephoning, thickening, threatening, tightening, toning, toughening, training, tuning, turning, twining, underlining, undermining, underpinning, unquestioning, unreasoning, vacationing, Vining, waning, warning, weakening, weaning, whining, whitening, widening, wining, worsening, yawning, yearning, zoning. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "g-g-i-i-n-n-n-r" | |
-1 letter: ginning, girning, ringing, rinning. | |
-2 letters: inning. | |
-3 letters: iring. | |
-4 letters: girn, grig, grin, ring. | |
-5 letters: gig, gin, inn, rig, rin. | |
| Words containing the letters "g-g-i-i-n-n-n-r" | |
+2 letters: engraining, grinningly, infringing, ingraining. | |
+3 letters: chagrinning, engineering, outgrinning, rebeginning, unstringing. | |
+4 letters: constringing, engineerings, handwringing. | |
+5 letters: handwringings, herringboning, interchanging, intermingling, reengineering. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Quotations: Fiction 10. Usage Frequency 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Derivations 15. Rhymes 16. Anagrams | 17. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
