sphinxlike
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Adjective
[edit]sphinxlike (comparative more sphinxlike, superlative most sphinxlike)
- Like a sphinx, or like that of a sphinx. Especially, not showing emotion.
- 2020 August 4, Richard Conniff, “They may look goofy, but ostriches are nobody’s fool”, in National Geographic Magazine[1]:
- they get together in the dry riverbed. He writhes over her for a minute or two as she sits sphinxlike, dignified, head straight in the air.
- Mysterious; scheming; having a deceptive outward appearance.
- 1889, Rudyard Kipling, “The Education of Otis Yeere”, in Under the Deodars, Boston: The Greenock Press, published 1899, page 21:
- Mrs. Mallowe smiled in a superior and Sphinx-like fashion.
- 2025 March 7, Mark Leibovich, “Mitch McConnell and the President He Calls ‘Despicable’”, in The Atlantic[2]:
- “What we need to avoid at the end is a headline that says ‘Russia Won, America Lost.’” A sphinxlike response. Or perhaps a nonresponse.