H. G. WELLS,
The Invisible Man
One was rather short and very stoutly built, with a big bullet-shaped head, a bristly grey moustache, and small pale-blue eyes, a trifle bloodshot. The other was a slender young fellow, of middle height, dark in complexion, and bearing himself with grace and distinction.
ANTHONY HOPE,
The Prisoner of Zenda
Sometimes, when a fierce wind blows out of the north, the faces of the scurrying citizens, drawn tight by the bluster of it, all seem to acquire a Lappish look, their eyes rather slanted, their cheekbones heightened, their skulls apparently narrowed, until they too, tending as they often do anyway toward an ideal androgyny, seem like a species devised especially for the setting by fablers or geneticists.
JAN MORRIS,
Journeys
pained
stricken, haunted, wounded
sad
downcast, saturnine, brooding, long-faced, gloomy, glum
injured
sulky, pouting, sullen
watchful
appraising, measured
inviting
beckoning, come-hither, enticing
knowing
meaningful, pregnant, wise, charged
confiding
reassuring, conspiratorial
distant
faraway, far off, dreamy
longing
wistful
expectant
hopeful, imploring, pleading, beseeching
odd
queer, strange, quizzical, enigmatic, fishy, weird
despairing
despondent, hopeless
Moore wore a splendid black silk robe with a gold lamé collar and belt. He sports a full mustache above an imperial, and his hair, sleeked down under pomade when he opens operations, invariably rises during the contest, as it gets water sloshed on it between rounds and the lacquer washes off, until it is standing up like the tope of a shaving brush.
A. J. LIEBLING, “Ahab and Nemesis”
On the wall were three heads, carved in relief and adorned with touches of red paint. One had a pronounced “imperial,” —a pointed tuft of beard.
THOR HEYERDAHL.
Easter Island: The Mystery Solved
Ezra Stowbody was a troglodyte. He had come to Gopher Prairie in 1865. He was a distinguished bird of prey—swooping thin nose, turtle mouth, thick brows, port-wine cheeks, floss of white hair, contemptuous eyes.
SINCLAIR LEWIS,
Main Street
He was taller than Gustav, a thin man with rough-cut dark-grey hair and beard and an aquiline nose. He turned by chance and faced us and I had a full view of his gaunt face. What surprised me was its fierceness. A severity that was almost savagery. I had never seen a face that expressed such violent determination never to compromise, never to deviate. Never to smile. And what eyes! They were slightly exophthalmic, of the most startling cold blue. Beyond any doubt, insane eyes.
JOHN FOWLES,
The Magus
Dress and General Appearance
appropriate
correct, suitable, apropos, seemly
proper
respectable, conservative, modest
formal
dressed up, elegant, dressy
meticulous
exquisite, impeccable
fashionable
smart, stylish, modish, chic, swell, à la mode
smart
snappy, modish, chic, toney, dashing, spiffy, snazzy, dapper,
natty, swanky, to the nines, becoming
sporty
rakish
inappropriate
incorrect, unsuitable, inapropos, unseemly, outlandish
not fashionable
frumpy, dowdy, frowsy, frowzy
heterogeneous or of different colors
motley
informal
casual, come as you are
not neat or tidy
unkempt, disheveled, rumpled, slovenly, sloppy
Dominating the scene by his height and force was Nathan: broad-shouldered, powerful-looking, crowned with a shock of hair swarthy as a Sioux‘s, he resembled a more attenuated and frenetic John Garfield, with Garfield’s handsome, crookedly agreeable face—theoretically agreeable, I should say, for now the face was murky with passion and rage, was quite emphatically anything but agreeable, suffused as it was with such an obvious eagerness for violence. He wore a light sweater and slacks and appeared to be in his late twenties. He held Sophie’s arm tight in his grasp, and she flinched before his onslaught like a rosebud quivering in a windstorm. So- phie I could barely see in the dismal light. I was able to discern only her disheveled mane of straw-colored hair and, behind Nathan’s shoulder, about a third of her face. This included a frightened eyebrow, a small mole, a hazel eye, and a broad lovely swerve of Slavic cheekbone across which a single tear rolled like a drop of quicksilver.
WILLIAM STYRON,
Sophie’s Choice
The reddleman turned his head, and replied in sad and occupied tones. He was young, and his face, if not exactly handsome, approached so near to handsome that nobody would have contradicted an assertion that it really was so in its natural colour. His eye, which glared so strangely through his stain, was in itself attractive—keen as that of a bird of prey, and blue as autumn mist. He had neither whisker nor moustache, which allowed the soft curves of the lower part of his face to be apparent. His lips were thin, and though, as it seemed, compressed by thought, there was a pleasant twitch at their comers now and then.
THOMAS HARDY,
The Return of the Native
overdressed
showy, flashy, flamboyant, dandyish, dandified, garish,
foppish, frilly, extravagant, obvious
cheap
gaudy, vulgar, tacky, common, tawdry
immodest
sexy, provocative, revealing, daring, scantily clad
worn
ragged, threadbare, shabby, tatterdemalion, seedy, ragtag, in
tatters
shabby but trying to appear dignified
shabby-genteel
He had a pale, bony, high-crowned head, across which a thin wave of brown hair curled and was plastered to his skull. He had a long, pale, joyless face. His eyes jumped at me. His hand jumped towards a button on his desk.
RAYMOND CHANDLER, “The Man Who Liked Dogs”
She looked about twenty-six and as if she hadn’t slept very well. She had a tired, pretty little face under fluffed-out brown hair, a rather narrow forehead with more height than is considered elegant, a small inquisitive nose, an upper lip a shade too long and a mouth more than a shade too wide. Her eyes could be very blue if they tried. She looked quiet, but not mousy-quiet. She looked smart, but not Holly-wood-smart.
RAYMOND CHANDLER, “Mandarin’s Jade”
Flat padded faces, flattish noses, and “double” upper eyelids—the epicanthic folds—appear to be adapted to protect the exposed and vulnerable face and eyes from cold.
ASHLEY MONTAGU,
Introduction to Physical Anthropology
David Grambs, a graduate of Haverford College, has been a hunter and gatherer of words since his first job in publishing, with the pioneering
American Heritage Dictionary.
He has worked as a juvenile mystery fiction writer, encyclopedia editor, textbook writer, translator, magazine copy editor, and travel reporter, and is author of four other books pertaining to the English language. When not riffling through unabridged dictionaries, he likes to play very unclassical piano in all possible keys or to run at least three times around the reservoir in New York’s Central Park.