Collocations for expression - noun

neutral
blank, dazed, glazed, vacant
They all just looked at me with blank expressions.

deadpan
He cracks jokes with a deadpan expression on his face.

curious, enigmatic, inscrutable, odd, strange, unreadable
calm
guarded
thoughtful
dreamy, wistful
doubtful, wary
anxious, concerned, troubled, worried
bleak, grim, serious
annoyed
angry, fierce, furious, stern
hangdog, hurt, melancholy, mournful, pained, sad
He hung around with this pathetic hangdog expression on his face.

intense, rapt
horrified, shocked, stunned, surprised
baffled, bemused, bewildered, confused, puzzled, quizzical
alert
bored
amused, wry
benign, sympathetic
satisfied, smug
innocent
fleeting
facial
The actors's gestures and facial expressions are perfect.

have, hold, wear
She had a very bewildered expression on her face.
The children's faces all wore the same rapt expression.

assume, put on
She carefully put on her most innocent expression.

take on
Rose's face took on the fierce expression of a schoolgirl talking about her most hated teacher.

show
His face showed no expression.

catch, notice, see
Catching a fleeting expression on Lucy's face, she persisted with her question.

examine, observe, watch
gauge, read
I looked at her, trying to read the expression on her face.

change
His face never changed expression.

alter, change
His expression changed to embarrassment.

grow …, turn …
His expression grew thoughtful.
Her expression suddenly turned serious.

remain sth
relax, soften
His expression softened when he saw her.

darken, harden
Her expression hardened into one of strong dislike.

freeze
betray sth, reveal sth, show sth, suggest sth, tell sb sth
Her expression betrayed nothing of her thoughts.
His grim expression told her it would be useless.

cross sth, flit across sth
She had been watching the expression that crossed his face.

appear on sth
A surprised expression appeared on her face.

without expression
‘Go on,’ she said, without expression.

expression of
He wore an expression of anxiety on his face.

the expression in sb's eyes, the expression on sb's face
He looked at her with a very strange expression in his eyes.

clear
Her statement was a clear expression of her views on this subject.

concrete, material, practical, tangible
The report gave concrete expression to the fears of many immigrants.

direct
Just because there is no direct expression of prejudice, that does not mean the prejudice does not exist.

full
The new concept of form reached its fullest expression in the work of Picasso.

highest, perfect, ultimate
His highest expression of praise was ‘Not bad!’
the highest expression of human creativity

effective, powerful
simple
natural
He wanted to write a verse drama in which the verse would seem a natural expression of modern life.

spontaneous
free
the right of free expression

open, overt, public
the open expression of emotion

outward
the outward expression of inner emotional feelings

formal
characteristic, classic
Modernism was the characteristic expression of the experience of modernity.

unique
collective
The harvest festival was the occasion for the collective expression of a community's religious values.

individual, personal
to allow scope for individual expression

visible, visual
emotional, physical, sexual
oral (esp. AmE), verbal, written
the verbal expression of one's feelings
A constitution is the written expression of the people's will.

artistic, creative, cultural, linguistic, literary, musical, poetic, political, religious
human

achieve, find, reach, receive
an anger and frustration that finds expression in (= is shown in) violence

give sth
Only in his dreams does he give expression to his fears.

beyond expression
She suddenly felt happy beyond expression (= so happy that she could not express it).

freedom of expression
Freedom of expression (= freedom to say what you think) is a basic human right.

a means of expression
Words, as a means of expression, can be limiting.

common
colloquial, slang, vernacular
vulgar
strange, unusual
favourite/favorite
figurative, idiomatic, metaphorical
American, English, etc.
geographical
Until the mid-nineteenth century, ‘Italy’ was just a geographical expression.

use
He tends to use strange expressions like ‘It's enough to make a cat laugh’.

hear
I've not heard that expression before.

mean sth