How to Use unsmiling in a Sentence

unsmiling

adjective
  • So how did fashion’s favorite unsmiling doyenne end up dabbling in the fine arts?
    — Lilah Ramzi, Vogue, 25 Jan. 2019
  • As the crowd erupts, an unsmiling Johnson greets his former foe.
    — Nikki Dobrin, Peoplemag, 16 Sep. 2023
  • So much for my unsmiling open mouth in my 2026 passport photo.
    — Paul Keane, Hartford Courant, 8 Mar. 2026
  • Her face is calm, her mouth relaxed and unsmiling, and her eyes look directly at you with quiet and strong resolve.
    — Kirsten Korosec, Fortune, 12 Feb. 2018
  • Simpson is face-to-face with an unsmiling but polite woman who appears to be in her 60s.
    — Byron McCauley, Cincinnati.com, 1 Nov. 2017
  • The men, terse, unsmiling, and unfailingly polite, keep them under siege for days.
    — Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 30 Jan. 2025
  • The models are all business, unsmiling and striding quickly with shoulders tucked back and eyes focused ahead.
    — Leah Garchik, San Francisco Chronicle, 1 May 2018
  • There is a photograph of the act in which Houdini’s unsmiling face sticks out above the can (his knees were pulled up to his chest).
    — David Denby, The New Yorker, 23 Mar. 2020
  • In what may be the funniest scene of the series, Levy goes ice fishing with a man and his unsmiling 6-year-old son.
    — Anna Peele, New York Times, 28 Feb. 2023
  • Some unsmiling young Negroes monotonously beat out African rhythms on drums all during his brief visit.
    — Johnny Miller, San Francisco Chronicle, 23 May 2018
  • 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.
    — Sara Holdren, Vulture, 16 June 2024
  • Fetine looks into the camera, unsmiling, with a gaze betraying some resentment about the choice made for her.
    — Washington Post, 25 May 2018
  • Her gaze is numb, her unsmiling mouth and tired eyes speak the language of every mother who has ever wanted an extra hand or another hour in the day.
    — Gaile Robinson, star-telegram, 16 Feb. 2018
  • Then, look in the upper left corner and find the highly serious, unsmiling security guard.
    — Hannah Orenstein, Seventeen, 4 Apr. 2016
  • Alisa Fedorovna herself was, like her cups and her candy, graceful, with thin, unsmiling lips, her pale-blond hair smoothly pulled back.
    — Lyudmila Ulitskaya, The New Yorker, 27 Mar. 2023
  • In another, an unsmiling child model dressed in black totes another version of the Teddy, with a padlock around its neck and a fish-net shirt.
    — Lauren Collins, The New Yorker, 20 Mar. 2023
  • That would be Boris Volkov, one of those ruthless Russian gangsters with unsmiling bodyguards that are all but omnipresent in films these days.
    — Kenneth Turan, latimes.com, 10 July 2018
  • Just the four adult Beatles, unsmiling but friendly, passing for ordinary boys, in a mob of little kids, old folks, teen girls, none of them noticing the rock stars.
    — Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 2 Apr. 2023
  • To say that Servillo acts with a poker face would be to vastly understate the unsmiling minimalism of his performance.
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 27 Aug. 2025
  • Like Pfeiffer’s Elvira Hancock, Broughton uses her bangs like a shield and her unsmiling mouth like a razor blade.
    — Josephine Livingstone, New Republic, 27 July 2017
  • The older of the two sisters, Minnie Lee, stares hard at the camera, her gaze direct and unsmiling but pleasant, almost quizzical.
    — New York Times, 8 June 2022
  • On his first trip to the Holy See, Francis’ unsmiling welcome was seen as frigid and unfriendly; both encounters were markedly brief.
    — Federico Perelmuter, The Dial, 13 Mar. 2025
  • Even typically unsmiling army and security personnel enjoyed the moment, laughing and high-fiving along with the throng.
    — Martin Rogers, USA TODAY, 1 July 2018
  • 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
  • During the interview, an unsmiling, downcast Affleck gave rambling answers and repeatedly looked off camera, as a clip of the interview shows.
    — Martha Ross, The Mercury News, 6 Aug. 2024
  • In the clip, Josie has a serious, unsmiling expression, which created a humorous contrast with the celebratory scene around her.
    — Ashlyn Robinette, PEOPLE, 10 June 2026
  • Böhm's images appear like relics from the 19th century, with solemn -- and often unsmiling -- subjects dressed in traditional Dutch outfits.
    — Leah Dolan, CNN, 11 Apr. 2022
  • But at that moment, looking up from the examination table at Tina, her dark hair framing her unsmiling face, Lilian neither hesitated nor flinched.
    — Yiyun Li, The New Yorker, 9 Mar. 2025
  • A little later, one model appears before the unsmiling casting tribunal, awaiting their instructions as a Boston terrier lingers for no good reason in the background.
    — Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 7 Oct. 2022
  • Perched on the set designer Levi Lack’s rendering of the Fillmore’s mezzanine, the actors are motionless, unsmiling as the music booms around them.
    — Elisabeth Vincentelli, New York Times, 12 Jan. 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'unsmiling.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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