From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishgrimacegri‧mace1 /ɡrɪˈmeɪs, ˈɡrɪməs/ verb [intransitive] DON'T LIKESMILEto twist your face in an ugly way because you do not like something, because you are feeling pain, or because you are trying to be funnygrimace at She grimaced at her reflection in the mirror. She sipped the whisky and grimaced.→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
grimace• The screaming would not stop, and he grimaced.• He grimaced and scratched his short, curly black hair where it stuck out from under his tartan cap.• Stadler, meanwhile, was grimacing and snarling with every strut of his corpulent form.• The flack grimaced and walked away, muttering.• Vic grimaces at his own reflection, as if to say: come off it, no identity crises, please.• He married his high school sweetheart, though he grimaces at that term.• Justin said, grimacing at the recollection.• She grimaced for Anna to step over it too, but the child trod on it before Liz could wrench her arm.grimace at• Hannegan grimaced at the big black painting on the wall.grimacegrimace2 noun [countable] written DON'T LIKEPAINan expression you make by twisting your face because you do not like something or because you are feeling pain His face twisted in a grimace of pain. a grimace of disgustExamples from the Corpus
grimace• He saw me without surprise, with a small smile, almost a grimace, on his face.• Bernie gave a grimace of disgust and left the room.• Her severed head flopped on a bin of guts, yellow beak in a grimace - take me with you?• A grimace distorted her fine mouth.• More screams and grimaces and thrashing about, and then pure vertigo.• Maryellen, standing beside them, looks at the bruised skin and grimaces.• There were a lot of grimaces, and a little dry bark sometimes, but never a laugh.• He was runty and snuffling and the left half of his face had a permanent grimace.Origin grimace2 (1600-1700) French from earlier French grimache 