Oxford Dictionary English

grin

verb
verb
BrE BrE//ɡrɪn//
; NAmE NAmE//ɡrɪn//
Verb Forms present simple I / you / we / they grin
BrE BrE//ɡrɪn//
; NAmE NAmE//ɡrɪn//
 he / she / it grins
BrE BrE//ɡrɪnz//
; NAmE NAmE//ɡrɪnz//
 past simple grinned
BrE BrE//ɡrɪnd//
; NAmE NAmE//ɡrɪnd//
 past participle grinned
BrE BrE//ɡrɪnd//
; NAmE NAmE//ɡrɪnd//
 -ing form grinning
BrE BrE//ˈɡrɪnɪŋ//
; NAmE NAmE//ˈɡrɪnɪŋ//
 Facial expressions
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  • [intransitive, transitive] to smile widely They grinned with delight when they heard our news. Stop grinning and tell me what happened! He was grinning from ear to ear. grin at somebody She grinned amiably at us. grin something He grinned a wide grin. Wordfinderexpressionbeam, expression, frown, grimace, grin, leer, scowl, smirk, sneer, wince Oxford Collocations Dictionary adverbbroadly, widely, slightly, … prepositionat, like, to, … phrasesgrin ear to ear, grin from ear to ear See full entry See related entries: Facial expressions
    •  Word OriginOld English grennian ‘bare the teeth in pain or anger’, of Germanic origin; probably related to groan.Extra examples He appeared in the doorway grinning broadly. He just stood there, grinning like an idiot. He just stood there, tongue-tied and grinning sheepishly. He lay grinning impishly up at me. He stopped eating to grin at me. She grinned apologetically when she saw him. She grinned to herself at the thought. She looked at us, grinning from ear to ear. She relaxed and grinned wickedly back at him. They grinned with pleasure. ‘Don’t be daft,’ he grinned.Idioms
    grin and bear it
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    (only used as an infinitive and in orders) to accept pain, disappointment or a difficult situation without complaining There's nothing we can do about it. We'll just have to grin and bear it.
    smile/grin/beam from ear to ear
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    to be smiling, etc. a lot because you are very pleased about something See related entries: Happiness
    See grin in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary
    Check pronunciation: grin
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