face

1 /feIs/ noun (C)

1 FRONT OF YOUR HEAD the front part of the head from the chin to the forehead: She has such a pretty face. | Bob's face was covered in cuts and bruises. | a sea of faces (=a lot of faces seen together): The Principal looked down from the platform at the sea of faces below

2 EXPRESSION an expression on someone's face: the children's happy faces | make/pull a face (=change your expression to make people laugh, or to show that you are angry, disappointed etc): Emma was making faces at me through the window. | you should have seen his/her face spoken (=used to say how angry, surprised etc someone looked): You should have seen Steve's face when I told him I was resigning. | sb's face was a picture spoken (=used to say that they looked very angry, surprised etc) | sb's face brightened/lit up (=they started to smile and look happy): David's face lit up when I mentioned her name. | sb's face fell (=they started to look disappointed or upset): His face fell when I told him the news. | a face like thunder (=a very angry expression): Mr Neeson came striding towards us with a face like thunder. | a long face (=an unhappy or worried expression)

3 PERSON

a) a famous/well-known face someone who is famous from television, magazines, films etc

b) new/different face someone who you have not seen before: There are a few new faces in class this year.

c) the same old faces people that you see often, especially too often: It's the same old faces at our meetings every week.

4 pale-faced/round-faced etc having a face that has a particular shape or colour: a pale-faced youth

—see also: red­faced

5 serious-faced/grim-faced etc showing a particular expression on your face: Negotiators emerged grim-faced after the day's talks.

—see also: barefaced, po­faced, poker­faced, stony­faced

6 face to face

a) if two people are face to face, they are very close and in front of each other : meet sb face to face: I've never met her face to face. We've only talked on the phone. | come face to face with (=suddenly meet someone who makes you very frightened, surprised etc): At that moment he came face to face with Sergeant Burke.

b) in a situation where you have to accept or deal with something unpleasant : bring sb face to face with: He was brought face to face with the truth about his daughter's disappearance. | come face to face with: This was the first time I'd ever come face to face with poverty.

—see also: face­to­face

7 to sb's face if you say something unpleasant to someone's face you say it to them directly: I told him to his face just what I thought.

8 face down/downwards with the face or front towards the ground: The body was lying face down on the carpet.

9 face up/upwards with the face or front towards the sky: She laid the cards out face upwards.

10 in the face of in a situation where there are many problems, difficulties, or dangers: bravery in the face of danger

11 on the face of it used to say that something seems true but that you think there may be other facts about it which are not yet clear: It looks, on the face of it, like a minor change in the regulations. | On the face of it, Norman seems the ideal man for the job.

12 the face of

a) the way in which an organization, system etc appears to people: Recent events that changed the face of the British monarchy

b) the general appearance of a particular place: the changing face of the landscape

13 lose face to make other people lose their respect for you: He doesn't want to back down and risk losing face.

14 save face if you do something to save face, you do it so that people will not lose their respect for you: Rather than admit defeat, Franklin compromised in order to save face.

15 blow up/go up in sb's face if a situation blows up or goes up in your face, it goes wrong, especially in an embarrassing way

16 disappear/vanish off the face of the earth to suddenly disappear: I haven't seen Paul in ages, he seems to have vanished off the face of the earth.

17 sb's face doesn't fit used to say that someone is not the right kind of person for a particular group, organization etc

18 put a brave face (on) to make an effort to behave in a happy cheerful way when you are upset or disappointed: He was shattered, though he put on a brave face.

19 set your face against especially BrE to be very determined that something should not happen

20 MOUNTAIN/CLIFF a steep, high side of a mountain, cliff etc: The cliff face was starting to crumble into the sea.

21 CLOCK the front of a clock

22 MINE the part of a mine from which coal, stone etc is cut

23 OUTSIDE SURFACE one of the outside surfaces of an object or building: A cube has six faces.

24 SPORT the part of a bat (bat1 (2)) or racket (racket1 (3)) that you use to hit the ball

25 in your face/in yer face slang behaviour, criticisms, remarks etc that are in your face are very direct and often shocking or surprising: Parson's `in your face' style of interviewing

26 what's his face/what's her face spoken used as a way of talking about someone when you cannot remember their name: I saw old what's his face in school yesterday.

27 put your face on informal humorous to put make­up on

—see also: have egg on your face egg 1 (4), fly in the face of fly 1 (28), a straight face straight 2 (11), laugh in sb's face laugh 1 (12), not just a pretty face pretty 2 (5), show your face show 1 (13), shut your face shut 1 (3), a slap in the face slap 2 (2), be staring sb in the face stare 1 (2), do sth till you're blue in the face blue 1 (6), wipe the smile/grin off sb's face wipe 1 (7), have sth written all over your face write (5) 2 verb (T)

1 DIFFICULT SITUATION if you face a difficult situation or if it faces you, you must deal with it: The President faces the difficult task of putting the economy back on its feet. | McManus is facing the biggest challenge of his career. | be faced with/by: I was faced with the awful job of breaking the news to the girl's family.

2 ADMIT A PROBLEM EXISTS to accept that a difficult situation or problem exists, even though you would prefer to ignore it : face the fact that: Many couples refuse to face the fact that they have problems with their marriage. | face facts: It's time that we started to face a few hard facts. | face the truth: He had to face the awful truth that she no longer loved him. | (let's) face it spoken (=used when saying something that someone may find difficult to accept or admit): Face it kid, you're never gonna be a rock star.

3 can't face if you cannot face something, you feel unable to do it because it seems too unpleasant or difficult: I don't want to go back to school again - I just can't face it. | can't face doing sth: He couldn't face driving all the way to Los Angeles.

4 BE OPPOSITE to be opposite a person, building etc so that you are pointing towards them, or to point in a particular direction: They stood facing each other for a few minutes. | Rita's apartment faces the harbor. | face north/east etc (=point towards the north, east etc): My bedroom faces south. | south-facing/west-facing etc: a south-facing garden

—see front 1

5 UNPLEASANT POSSIBILITY to have the possibility that something bad or unpleasant might happen to you: If he can't pay up, he's faced with losing his home. | Evans could face the electric chair.

6 TEAM/OPPONENT to play against an opponent or team in a game or competition: Martinez will face Robertson in tomorrow's final.

7 DIFFICULT PERSON to deal with someone who is difficult to deal with, or talk to someone who you do not want to talk to: You're going to have to face him sooner or later.

8 face the music informal to accept criticism or punishment for something you have done

9 BUILDING be faced with stone/concrete etc to be covered in stone, concrete 1 etc

face sb down phrasal verb (T) to deal with someone in a strong and confident way: The police chief faced down reporters who were calling for his resignation. face up to sth phrasal verb (T) to accept and deal with an unpleasant fact or problem: They'll never offer you another job; you might as well face up to it. face sb with sth phrasal verb (transitive often passive) to show someone evidence that proves they have done something wrong