cau mặt
Definition
- Verb:
- To frown: To contract the muscles of the face, especially the eyebrows, often expressing displeasure, worry, concentration, or deep thought.
- To scowl: To have a gloomy or threatening expression by drawing the eyebrows together and lowering the corners of the mouth.
Usage Examples
- Verb:
- Cô ấy cau mặt khi đọc tin xấu. (She frowned when she read the bad news.)
- Đừng cau mặt như thế, mọi chuyện sẽ ổn thôi. (Don't scowl like that; everything will be fine.)
- Anh ấy cau mặt suy nghĩ về bài toán khó. (He frowned in thought over the difficult math problem.)
Advanced Usage
- The action is often involuntary and is a clear, non-verbal indicator of a person's negative or intense internal state.
- It can be used descriptively in narratives to show a character's reaction without stating the emotion directly.
Variants and Related Words
- Nhăn mặt (v): To grimace. This often implies a reaction to physical discomfort or a bad taste, whereas "cau mặt" is more linked to emotional or mental states.
- Cậu bé nhăn mặt khi uống thuốc. (The boy grimaced when taking the medicine.)
Synonyms
- Frown: To furrow one's brow, typically in displeasure or thought.
- Scowl: To have an angry or bad-tempered expression.
- Glower: To stare with sullen anger.
Related Idioms
- Cau mày: Literally "to knit one's eyebrows." This is a very close synonym and is often used interchangeably with "cau mặt," though "cau mày" focuses more on the brow area.
- Ông ấy cau mày không hài lòng. (He knitted his brows in dissatisfaction.)