Facepalm
noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A gesture of bringing one or both palms to the face, with various interpretations including exasperation, chagrin, frustration, embarrassment (one's own or vicarious), etc.
"[Cue: William Tell Overture] [sound of Frank Zappa's “San Ber'dino” being played on Japanese instruments] [Kevin (the Muse): “Wargh! It SAID _William Tell!”] [Cantata11 (walking up with a koto): “Oof. Sorry. It's just that the girls had gotten warmed up to the other thingy...”] [Kevin: “William _Tell_, 11.” (facepalm)]"
- 2 the act of putting your hand to cover your face to show disappointment or despair wordnet
- 1 To bring the palm of one’s hand to one’s face as an expression of mixed humor and disbelief, disgust or shame; for example, when one is caught off-guard with a particularly bad pun.
"Christie blinked, then *looked* at Steven. “Do you have any idea what might be different?” “Um... No? Christie facepalmed. “Well, her hair was red this morning, right? It's blonde now. You figure it out.”"
- 2 To bring one’s face down to one’s cupped hand or hands.
Example
More examples"[Cue: William Tell Overture] [sound of Frank Zappa's “San Ber'dino” being played on Japanese instruments] [Kevin (the Muse): “Wargh! It SAID _William Tell!”] [Cantata11 (walking up with a koto): “Oof. Sorry. It's just that the girls had gotten warmed up to the other thingy...”] [Kevin: “William _Tell_, 11.” (facepalm)]"
Etymology
From face + palm. Attested since at least 2001.
Related phrases
More for "facepalm"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.