expression

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French expression, from Late Latin expressiō, expressiōnem (“a pressing out”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪkˈspɹɛʃ.ən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛʃən
• Hyphenation: ex‧pres‧sion

Noun

expression (countable and uncountable, plural expressions)

1. The action of expressing thoughts, ideas, feelings, etc.
2. A particular way of phrasing an idea.
3. A colloquialism or idiom.

   The expression "break a leg!" should not be taken literally.

4. A facial appearance usually associated with an emotion.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 9, in The China Governess‎^[1]:

     Eustace gaped at him in amazement. When his urbanity dropped away from him, as now, he had an innocence of expression which was almost infantile. It was as if the world had never touched him at all.

   • 1967, Sleigh, Barbara, Jessamy, 1993 edition, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, →ISBN, page 122:

     At any other time Jessamy would have laughed at the expressions that chased each other over his freckled face: crossness left over from his struggle with the baby; incredulity; distress; and finally delight.

   • For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:expression.

   They stared at the newcomer with a puzzled expression.

   The best poker players can tell if the opponents have a good hand by looking at their expression.

   Her expression changed from joy to misery after realising her winning lottery ticket had expired.

5. (mathematics) An arrangement of symbols denoting values, operations performed on them, and grouping symbols.
6. (biology) The process of translating a gene into a protein.
7. (programming) A piece of code in a high-level language that returns a value.
8. A specific blend of whisky.
9. (biology) The act of pressing or squeezing out.

   expression from a gland

   the expression of milk from the mammaries

10. (music) The tone of voice or sound in music.

Hyponyms

Hyponyms of expression

• arithmetic expression
• immediately-invoked function expression
• lambda expression
• linguistic expression
• logical expression
• regular expression
• s-expression

 

Derived terms

• express
• expressible
• expressionism
• expressionless
• expressive
• infraexpression
• overexpression
• s-expression

 

Related terms

• expression pedal

Translations

action of expressing thoughts, ideas, feelings, etc.

• Icelandic: tjáning f

particular way of phrasing an idea

• Arabic: تَعْبِير‎ m (taʿbīr)
• Armenian: արտահայտություն (hy) (artahaytutʿyun)
• Belarusian: вы́раз m (výraz)
• Bulgarian: изразяване (bg) n (izrazjavane)
• Catalan: expressió (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 表示 (zh) (biǎoshì), 表達 (zh), 表达 (zh) (biǎodá), 用語 (zh), 用语 (zh) (yòngyǔ), 說法 (zh), 说法 (zh) (shuōfǎ)

• Czech: výraz (cs) m, vyjádření (cs) n
• Danish: udtryk n
• Dutch: uitdrukking (nl) f
• Esperanto: esprimo (eo)
• Estonian: sõnastus
• Finnish: ilmaisu (fi), ilmaus (fi)
• French: expression (fr) f
• Galician: expresión (gl) f
• Georgian: გამოთქმა (gamotkma)
• German: Ausdruck (de) m
• Greek: έκφραση (el) f (ékfrasi), διατύπωση (el) f (diatýposi)
• Hebrew: ביטוי‎ m (bituy), הבעה‎ (he) f (hava'a)
• Hungarian: kifejezés (hu)
• Indonesian: ungkapan (id), curahan (id)
• Interlingua: expression (ia)
• Italian: espressione (it) f
• Japanese: 表現 (ja) (ひょうげん, hyōgen), 言い回し (いいまわし, iimawashi)

• Korean: 표현 (ko) (pyohyeon)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: ده‌رخستن‎ (derxistin)

• Latin: verbum (la)
• Latvian: izteiksme f
• Luxembourgish: Ausdrock m
• Macedonian: израз m (izraz)
• Maori: kīanga
• Norman: expression f (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: uttrykk (no) n

• Polish: wyrażenie (pl) n, zwrot (pl) m inan
• Portuguese: expressão (pt) f
• Romanian: expresie (ro)
• Russian: выраже́ние (ru) n (vyražénije)
• Scottish Gaelic: abairt f
• Serbo-Croatian: izraz (sh) m, израз m
• Slovak: výraz m, vyjadrenie n
• Slovene: izraz (sl) m
• Spanish: expresión (es) f
• Swedish: uttryck (sv) n
• Turkish: anlatım (tr), ifade (tr)
• Ukrainian: вислів (uk) m (vysliv)
• Walloon: ratourneure (wa) m

colloquialism or idiom

• Arabic: تَعْبِير‎ m (taʿbīr), عِبَارَة‎ f (ʿibāra)
• Armenian: արտահայտություն (hy) (artahaytutʿyun)
• Belarusian: вы́раз m (výraz)
• Bulgarian: израз (bg) m (izraz)
• Catalan: expressió (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 表示 (zh) (biǎoshì), 成語 (zh), 成语 (zh) (chéngyǔ), 說法 (zh), 说法 (zh) (shuōfǎ)

• Czech: výraz (cs) m
• Danish: udtryk n
• Dutch: uitdrukking (nl) f, spreekwijze f, wijze van spreken f
• Esperanto: esprimilo, idiomaĵo (eo)
• Estonian: ütlus
• Finnish: ilmaisu (fi), ilmaus (fi)
• French: expression (fr) f
• German: Redensart (de) f
• Greek: έκφραση (el) f (ékfrasi), ιδιωματισμός (el) m (idiomatismós)
• Hebrew: ביטוי‎ m (bitui), אמירה‎ (he) f (amira)
• Hindi: मुहावरा (hi) m (muhāvrā)
• Hungarian: szólás (hu), szóhasználat (hu)
• Indonesian: ungkapan (id)
• Interlingua: expression (ia)

• Irish: nath cainte f
• Italian: espressione (it) f
• Japanese: 表現 (ja) (ひょうげん, hyōgen)
• Korean: 표현 (ko) (pyohyeon)
• Macedonian: израз m (izraz)
• Maori: kīwaha, kupu whatinga
• Norman: expression f (Jersey)
• Polish: wyrażenie (pl) n, zwrot (pl) m inan
• Portuguese: expressão (pt) f
• Russian: выраже́ние (ru) n (vyražénije), оборо́т (ru) m (oborót)
• Scottish Gaelic: abairt f
• Serbo-Croatian: izraz (sh) m, израз m
• Slovak: výraz m
• Slovene: izraz (sl) m
• Spanish: expresión (es) f, frase hecha f
• Swedish: uttryck (sv) n
• Thai: สำนวน (th) (sǎm-nuuan)
• Turkish: ifade (tr)
• Ukrainian: вислів (uk) m (vysliv), ви́раз m (výraz)
• Vietnamese: thành ngữ (vi), từ ngữ (vi)

facial appearance

• Albanian: fytyrë (sq)
• Arabic: سِيمَاء‎ f (sīmāʾ)
• Armenian: արտահայտություն (hy) (artahaytutʿyun)
• Basque: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: вы́раз m (výraz)
• Bulgarian: изражение (bg) n (izraženie)
• Catalan: expressió (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 表情 (zh) (biǎoqíng)

• Czech: výraz (cs) m
• Danish: udtryk n
• Dutch: uitdrukking (nl) f, gelaatsuitdrukking (nl) f
• Esperanto: mieno, esprimo (eo)
• Estonian: ilme
• Finnish: ilme (fi)
• French: expression (fr) f
• Georgian: გამომეტყველება (gamomeṭq̇veleba), სახის გამომეტყველება (saxis gamomeṭq̇veleba)
• German: Ausdruck (de) m
• Greek: έκφραση (el) f (ékfrasi), ύφος (el) n (ýfos), μορφασμός (el) m (morfasmós)
• Hawaiian: maka
• Hebrew: הבעה‎ (he) f (haba'a)
• Hindi: bhavana (bhavana)
• Hungarian: arckifejezés (hu)
• Icelandic: svipur m, svipbrigði n pl
• Indonesian: air muka
• Interlingua: expression (ia)
• Irish: dreach m

• Italian: espressione (it) f
• Japanese: 表情 (ja) (ひょうじょう, hyōjō)
• Korean: 표정 (ko) (pyojeong)
• Latin: vultus m
• Latvian: izteiksme f
• Lithuanian: išraiška (lt) f
• Maori: please add this translation if you can
• Mongolian: нүүрний байдал (nüürnij bajdal)
• Norman: expression f (Jersey)
• Norwegian: uttrykk (no) n, mine (no) m
• Old English: please add this translation if you can
• Persian: روبہ‎
• Polish: mina (pl) f, wyraz twarzy (pl) m inan
• Portuguese: expressão (pt) f
• Romanian: expresie (ro) f
• Russian: выраже́ние (ru) n (vyražénije)
• Serbo-Croatian: izraz (sh) m, израз m
• Slovak: please add this translation if you can
• Slovene: izraz (sl) m
• Spanish: expresión (es) f
• Swedish: uttryck (sv) n, ansiktsuttryck (sv) n, min (sv) c
• Thai: สีหน้า (th) (sǐi-nâa)
• Turkish: ifade (tr)
• Ukrainian: вираз m (vyraz)
• Vietnamese: vẻ (vi)
• Welsh: mynegyn m
• Yiddish: אויסדרוק‎ m (oysdruk)

mathematics: arrangement of symbols

• Armenian: արտահայտություն (hy) (artahaytutʿyun)
• Belarusian: вы́раз m (výraz)
• Bulgarian: израз (bg) m (izraz)
• Catalan: expressió (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 表達式 (zh), 表达式 (zh) (biǎodáshì)

• Czech: výraz (cs) m
• Danish: udtryk n
• Dutch: uitdrukking (nl) f
• Esperanto: esprimo (eo)
• Estonian: avaldis
• Finnish: lauseke (fi)
• French: expression (fr) f
• German: Ausdruck (de) m
• Greek: παράσταση (el) f (parástasi), διατύπωση (el) f (diatýposi), όρος (el) m (óros)
• Icelandic: segð f
• Interlingua: expression (ia)

• Italian: espressione (it) f
• Japanese: 数式 (ja) (すうしき, sūshiki)
• Latvian: izteiksme f
• Norman: expression f (Jersey)
• Persian: عبارت‎ (fa)
• Polish: wyrażenie (pl) n
• Portuguese: expressão (pt) f
• Romanian: expresie (ro) f
• Russian: выраже́ние (ru) n (vyražénije)
• Serbo-Croatian: izraz (sh) m, израз m
• Spanish: expresión (es) f
• Swedish: uttryck (sv) n
• Tagalog: pahayag
• Turkish: ifade (tr)
• Ukrainian: вираз m (vyraz)
• Vietnamese: biểu thức

process of translating a gene into a protein

• Catalan: expressió (ca) f
• Estonian: ekspressioon, avaldumine
• Finnish: ilmentymä (fi)
• French: expression (fr)

• Interlingua: expression (ia)
• Italian: espressione (it) f
• Portuguese: expressão (pt)
• Spanish: expresión (es) f

(computing) a piece of code in a high-level language that returns a value

• Catalan: expressió (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 表達式 (zh), 表达式 (zh) (biǎodáshì)

• Czech: výraz (cs) m
• Danish: udtryk n
• Esperanto: esprimo (eo)
• Estonian: avaldis
• Finnish: lauseke (fi), määritelmä (fi)
• French: expression (fr) f
• German: Ausdruck (de) m
• Icelandic: segð f
• Interlingua: expression (ia)

• Italian: espressione (it) f
• Japanese: 式 (ja) (しき, shiki)
• Khmer: កន្សោម (km) (kɑnsaom)
• Polish: wyrażenie (pl) n
• Portuguese: expressão (pt) f
• Russian: выраже́ние (ru) n (vyražénije)
• Serbo-Croatian: izraz (sh) m, израз
• Spanish: expresión (es) f
• Swedish: uttryck (sv) n
• Turkish: ifade (tr)
• Vietnamese: biểu thức

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} ekspresi (id), ^{(please verify)} pernyataan (id)
• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} expression (ia)

• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 표현 (ko) (pyohyeon)
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} expresie (ro) f

---

French

Etymology

From Middle French expression, borrowed from Latin expressiō, expressiōnem (“a pressing out”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛk.spʁɛ.sjɔ̃/

• Audio (France, Paris)

  (file)

Noun

expression f (plural expressions)

1. expression

Related terms

• exprimer

Further reading

• “expression” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

---

Interlingua

Etymology

From Latin expressiō, expressiōnem (“a pressing out”).

Noun

expression (plural expressiones)

1. expression

---

Norman

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin expressiō, expressiōnem (“a pressing out”).

Noun

expression f (plural expressions)

1. (Jersey) expression