What's the difference between grinning and sneering?

Grinning


Definition:

  • (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Grin

Example Sentences:

  • (1) "It is incredibly hard work," she says with a sly grin.
  • (2) There was nothing accidental about Saffiyah Khan’s easy nonchalance, grinning through the spitting rage of Ian Crossland at the EDL rally in Birmingham city centre at the weekend; Ieshia Evans knew there was more power in calm when she approached the police in Baton Rouge last summer.
  • (3) Then Obama himself swooped in with a big bear hug around Giffords's tiny frame, grinning widely before climbing to the rostrum for the speech.
  • (4) Thank you for your encouragement and good wishes,” Ma Jing, the director general of CCTV America, told the president, flanked by a number of grinning American staff.
  • (5) Who can complain of physical fear, of the nightmare of a baby eating its way out of your abdomen, of the loss of professional autonomy, staring at a stranger's idiotic grin?
  • (6) I have a self-satisfied grin just thinking about these expressions.
  • (7) People take pictures of themselves wherever they go, from cathedrals to airports to funerals , always the same face grinning at the camera.
  • (8) The thing that had me cracking up all night long is, I go through 20 years of everybody screaming to pass the ball,” Bryant said with a grin.
  • (9) Putin could have been forgiven for allowing himself a wry grin, as another court comprehensively trashed Berezovsky's reputation.
  • (10) The new No8 allowed a slight grin to creep over his face, seemingly struggling to contain his excitement.
  • (11) She reminds me of the time David was ridiculed for being photographed grinning inanely with a banana.
  • (12) Asked about his repeated gestures, grins and smirks towards the victims, she said it brought back memories of seeing him at Srebrenica.
  • (13) The final seconds of the movie are the most memorable, in which Smokey assures Big Worm he’s going to rehab, before hanging up the phone and lighting a joint with a mischievous grin to the camera.
  • (14) After Second World War army service, his physique, graceful carriage and radiant grin took him from lift attendant to Broadway and instant movie stardom in The Killers (1946).
  • (15) "We couldn't believe our eyes," grinned Shamad, recalling the sight of Tunisia's ousted despot, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, fleeing a land he had ruled for 23 years.
  • (16) "I have no idea," Farage barked back with something between a grin and a scowl.
  • (17) During mimetic actions, such as wrinkling the forehead, closing the eyes, blinking, grinning and blowing out the cheeks, EMG from 16 disk electrodes were concurrently recorded from the frontalis, orbicularis oculi, and orbicularis oris muscles on both sides.
  • (18) We’ll definitely show that on the day.” There was a twinkle in his eye and a slight grin on his face but Bale, make no mistake, was deadly serious.
  • (19) For Cohn, a teddy boy at heart, neither came close to the glamour and speed fix of the rapidly receding “golden age” he wrote about with such dash: Elvis’s “great ducktail plume and lopsided grin”, Phil Spector’s “beautiful noise”, and James Brown, “the outlaw, the Stagger Lee of his time”.
  • (20) There are pictures of firefighters, policemen, soldiers and members of the public, some grinning and holding up placards celebrating Bin Laden's execution.

Sneering


Definition:

  • (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Sneer

Example Sentences:

  • (1) He made his political base in this western province, which has long felt sneered at: Harper has spent his political career redressing the balance.
  • (2) Gough, as the degenerate black sheep of an English family trying to blackmail an American adulterer, would curl a long lip into a sneering smile, which became a characteristic of this fine actor's style.
  • (3) Comment is perfectly legitimate, but the sneering, supercilious, specious and dismissive contributions masquerading as ‘commentary’ belittle the claims of a ‘quality’ paper.” Before attempting to assess the validity of the reader’s analysis – broadly shared by some other readers – I think his email reflects one or two other interesting aspects of the demographics of the Guardian’s readership and the left.
  • (4) Webb agreed, calling Miliband "irresponsible" for "stirring up cheap headlines", sneering: "Why doesn't the government set a price cap on a tin of beans?"
  • (5) I think it's a good thing that comedians want to exploit (and relieve) our anxieties about what's sayable – but only if we as audiences become bolder in opposing comedy that bullies, comedy that sneers at the vulnerable and the under-represented, comedy that feels, in Herring's words, "like being at school and going, 'Ha ha, you're a spastic.'"
  • (6) Over the years the Oscars have been variously coveted and sneered at, have increasingly brought box-office value and personal prestige, become a media obsession, a gauge of industrial morale and a way of taking the national pulse.
  • (7) It has sneered at the 1906 reforms of Lloyd George , who recognised that 19th-century philanthropy (which was always pretty judgmental and selective) was no longer adequate for a modern industrial country.
  • (8) Merkel grimly submitted to an executive fashion makeover after the media sneered at her frumpy look; now she clearly relishes shining out in jewel-toned jackets from a forest of dark suits at G20 meetings.
  • (9) At which point – obviously – you reach the stubborn limits of the debate: from even the most supposedly imaginative Labour people as much as any Tories, such heresies would presumably be greeted with sneering derision.
  • (10) This is so corny, what I'm saying, but I feel obliged to drone on about it, because before we reach the tipping point, it's time to stop sneering at fat people, being disapproving and bossing them about: walk to work, eat your greens, control yourselves.
  • (11) Henry Barnes The clergy may not be entirely trustworthy This may not be big news to cinemagoers – sneering at religious types goes all the way back to DW Griffith's Intolerance – but Cannes boasts an impressively ecumenical approach.
  • (12) Chindamo's trial, the following year, heard how the teenager, who came to Britain from Italy at the age of five, sneered as he slapped, punched and then stabbed the headteacher.
  • (13) Oh, but now this is highfalutin identity politics to be sneered at along with your safe spaces and trigger warnings.
  • (14) Hours after Tuesday’s bomb attack on a tourist area of Istanbul , Erdoğan delivered a sneering criticism of Chomsky and “so-called intellectuals” who had signed a letter calling on Turkey to end the “deliberate massacre” of Kurdish people in the south east of the country, He invited Chomsky to visit the area in a defiant televised speech to a conference of Turkish ambassadors in Ankara.
  • (15) "I always hated the expression anyway, mostly because I encountered it in stupid or sneering contexts."
  • (16) Naturally, Michael Gove , former Times columnist, responded to the thousands of economists who warned he was taking an extraordinary risk with the sneer that will follow him to his grave: “People in this country have had enough of experts.” He’s been saying the same for years.
  • (17) It is easy to sneer at the journalistic concept of the Angry Young Man (a phrase, incidentally, coined by a dismissive Royal Court press officer).
  • (18) But Winterbottom, a competent pre-war centre-half for Manchester United, unfairly sneered at by some England international veterans as one who had never played, was, in essence, a bureaucrat rather than a technician, who would admit his other job – yes, he had two!
  • (19) The decision to have clip-on ties, favoured for police officers, sneered at by those who believe "children should learn to do ties up from an early age", is already paying off, with not a single tie out of place.
  • (20) If you ever feel tempted to say "status quo" or "cul de sac", for instance, Orwell will sneer at you for "pretentious diction".

Words possibly related to "grinning"

Words possibly related to "sneering"