as in solemn
not joking or playful in mood or manner
delivered the reprimand with a harsh and unsmiling face
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Recent Examples of unsmiling
But courage has many faces, and a revolution takes all sorts — and one made up only of unsmiling soldiers is likely to lead only to war.
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Sara Holdren, Vulture, 16 June 2024
She’s clipped, judgmental and unsmiling—there hasn’t been a figure of such puritanical disapproval since Amy Adams in The Master.
—Tom Gliatto, Peoplemag, 4 Apr. 2024
Belichick, known for his rumpled appearance, unsmiling countenance and monotone voice, was celebrated as savant, savior and sage.
—Bill Pennington, New York Times, 11 Jan. 2024
Other people worry that political tensions and anxiety over such things as the death of democracy and the climate crisis have left us collectively unsmiling—that now the only thing people are likely to talk about at a water cooler is cooler water.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 11 Dec. 2023
See all Example Sentences for unsmiling 
Sara Holdren, Vulture, 16 June 2024
She’s clipped, judgmental and unsmiling—there hasn’t been a figure of such puritanical disapproval since Amy Adams in The Master.
—Tom Gliatto, Peoplemag, 4 Apr. 2024
Belichick, known for his rumpled appearance, unsmiling countenance and monotone voice, was celebrated as savant, savior and sage.
—Bill Pennington, New York Times, 11 Jan. 2024
Other people worry that political tensions and anxiety over such things as the death of democracy and the climate crisis have left us collectively unsmiling—that now the only thing people are likely to talk about at a water cooler is cooler water.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 11 Dec. 2023
See all Example Sentences for unsmiling
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unsmiling
Adjective
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The announcement was made earlier this month at a solemn ceremony at Department headquarters in Brooklyn to honor the lives lost.Vanessa Etienne, Peoplemag, 11 Sep. 2024
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Their presence is solemn and, at the same time, festive, an echo of past times that rings with each step.Arath Zumaya Muñoz, Vogue, 2 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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And in Pennsylvania the Philadelphia district attorney issued a stern warning.Luke Barr, ABC News, 5 Nov. 2024
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Where once there was stern, pensive faces, now there were smiles, heads tilted back.Daniel Cassady, ARTnews.com, 4 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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The Trump administration now needs to get serious about shaping regional and global conventions around digital trade, anticorruption, and intellectual property rights to counter Beijing’s efforts to bend weaker states to its will and obstruct U.S. economic access.Michael Green, Foreign Affairs, 19 Nov. 2024
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Here’s where the fun stuff turns into serious stuff.Ben Rosenstock, Vulture, 16 Nov. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near unsmiling
Cite this Entry
“Unsmiling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unsmiling. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.
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