Learn English – Appropriate word for smile

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I'm looking for an appropriate word for a certain kind of a smile.

Are you in love with that girl' asked she with a grin on her face.

I have used the word grin but I guess grin is a broad smile.

The situation here is the girl who is asking the question is in love with the guy. But she hasn't told him yet. She heard from someone that he likes someone else. So the degree of smile is actually a small smile which doesn't reveal much.

Best Answer

I think modest smile would work well:

Are you in love with that girl' she asked with a modest smile.

According to TFD it has the meanings:

  1. Having or showing a moderate estimation of one's own talents, abilities, and value.
  2. Having or proceeding from a disinclination to call attention to oneself; retiring or diffident. See Synonyms at shy1.
  3. Observing conventional proprieties in speech, behavior, or dress.
  4. Free from showiness or ostentation; unpretentious. See Synonyms at plain.
  5. Moderate or limited in size, quantity, or range; not extreme: a modest price; a newspaper with a modest circulation.

By 5, it means "not large," which can mean small. "Not revealing much" may be captured by 4, particularly about herself as noted in 2.

Two other words to describe her smile might be coy or demure.

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