Meaning & use
fresh faced
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Meaning
adjectivecomparableapproving
Looking young, healthy and clear-skinned, often suggesting someone who is new to a job or experience.
Grammar: Before a noun or after be: a fresh-faced boy; he looked fresh-faced.
Patterns
- a fresh-faced young someone
- look fresh-faced
A fresh-faced intern handed me the keys.
The fresh-faced recruits waited nervously on the parade ground.
She looked fresh-faced even after a night shift.
Common combinations
- fresh-faced youth
- A fresh-faced youth opened the door.
- fresh-faced graduate
- The firm hired a fresh-faced graduate.
- fresh-faced and eager
- He arrived fresh-faced and eager.
- fresh-faced young man
- A fresh-faced young man took my order.
Synonyms and how they differ
- baby-faced
- Baby-faced stresses a round, childlike look, while fresh-faced stresses healthy glow.
- youthful
- Youthful is broader and works for any age or energy, not just the face.
- rosy-cheeked
- Rosy-cheeked describes color only, with less suggestion of inexperience.
- wide-eyed
- Wide-eyed suggests innocence or wonder rather than appearance.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: fresh faced or freshman?
fresh faced vs freshman
A freshman is a first-year student; fresh-faced describes how someone looks.
Practice
The ___ new teacher looked barely older than her students.
Choose one answer.
Fresh-faced means youthful-looking. Hard-faced is stern, two-faced is deceitful, and straight-faced means not smiling.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “fresh faced”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.