Meaning & use
po-faced
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Meaning
adjectivenot comparableinformalBritish
Looking very serious and disapproving, with no smile.
Grammar: Not usually used with 'more' or 'most'; you say 'she looked po-faced'.
Patterns
- look po-faced
- a po-faced expression
- remain po-faced
She sat there po-faced while everyone else laughed.
He gave a po-faced reply that killed the joke.
Don't be so po-faced; it was only a silly remark.
Common combinations
- look po-faced
- He looked po-faced when the teacher told a joke.
- a po-faced expression
- She had a po-faced expression all through the film.
- remain po-faced
- The audience remained po-faced despite the comedian's efforts.
- po-faced disapproval
- His po-faced disapproval made everyone uncomfortable.
Synonyms and how they differ
- straight-faced
- This means keeping a serious face on purpose, often to hide amusement; po-faced suggests actual disapproval.
- humorless
- This describes a person who rarely laughs; po-faced describes a temporary look or attitude.
Opposites
Commonly confused: po-faced or poker-faced?
po-faced vs poker-faced
Poker-faced means showing no emotion at all, especially to hide your thoughts; po-faced means looking serious and disapproving.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'po-faced' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Po-faced' describes a serious, disapproving expression, so it fits 'remained po-faced while others laughed'. It is not a verb or a noun, and it does not mean joyful.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “po-faced”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.