Meaning & use
roll their eyes
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Meaning
phraseidiominformal
to move your eyes upward in a circle to show that you are annoyed, bored, or think something is silly
Grammar: The possessive pronoun changes with the subject: I rolled my eyes, she rolled her eyes, they rolled their eyes.
Patterns
- roll your eyes at someone
- roll your eyes at something
When the teacher said the test was easy, the whole class rolled their eyes.
He rolled his eyes at my suggestion, which made me feel stupid.
She rolled her eyes when her brother started singing again.
Common combinations
- roll your eyes at someone
- Don't roll your eyes at me; I'm serious.
- roll your eyes in annoyance
- She rolled her eyes in annoyance at the delay.
- roll your eyes dramatically
- He rolled his eyes dramatically and walked away.
- roll your eyes heavenward
- She rolled her eyes heavenward and sighed.
Synonyms and how they differ
Commonly confused: roll their eyes or roll one's eyes?
roll their eyes vs roll one's eyes
This is the same phrase but with a generic possessive; in real use, you change the possessive to match the subject.
Practice
Which sentence uses the phrase correctly?
Choose one answer.
The possessive must match the subject: 'He' goes with 'his'. The other options mix the possessive with the wrong subject.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “roll their eyes”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.