Meaning & use
eye roll
Last updated
UK/ˈaɪ rəʊl/
US/ˈaɪ roʊl/
Meaning
nouncountable
The act of moving your eyes upward to show annoyance, boredom, or disbelief.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'an eye roll' or 'eye rolls'.
Patterns
- give an eye roll
- with an eye roll
She gave a big eye roll when he mentioned the meeting again.
His constant eye rolls made it clear he disagreed.
The teacher ignored the eye roll and continued the lesson.
Word forms
| plural | eye rolls |
|---|
Common combinations
- give an eye roll
- He gave an eye roll when he heard the excuse.
- a massive eye roll
- Her massive eye roll told everyone what she thought.
- with an eye roll
- She answered with an eye roll and left the room.
- a chorus of eye rolls
- The suggestion was met with a chorus of eye rolls.
Synonyms and how they differ
Word family
- roll your eyes phrase
- The verb phrase meaning to move your eyes upward in annoyance.
Commonly confused: eye roll or eyesore?
eye roll vs eyesore
An eyesore is something ugly to look at, not a movement of the eyes.
Practice
When she heard the price, she ______ and walked away.
Choose one answer.
The natural collocation is 'gave an eye roll'. 'Made an eye roll' sounds unnatural; we usually 'make' a face, but we 'give' an eye roll.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “eye roll”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.
Your sentence stays on this page and is not sent anywhere.