plastic smile

plastic smile

A forced, artificial smile; a smile someone wears despite having no feelings of happiness or joy. John seemed fine at first glance, but before long, I could tell that he was wearing a plastic smile and that something was bothering him. Look at that his big plastic smile—he's such a conman! I sure hope he doesn't win the election.
See also: plastic, smile
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • plastic
  • plastic grin
  • raise a smile
  • wear nothing but a smile
  • wearing a smile
  • wearing nothing but a smile
  • smile at
  • smile at (one)
  • cheese
  • cheese (someone or something)
References in periodicals archive
A positive attitude is something that goes deep and has an effect beyond a plastic smile or a faking cheer.
It was a time before "health & safety" got way too serious, and where we were told to always wear our PPS ("Pontins Plastic Smile").
PLASTIC SMILE Greer poses on Killie pitch - but he hated surface
Plastic smile This girl flashes a grin in her recycled creation
Mantel made headlines last month after she criticised Kate Middleton as having no personality and appearing to have been "gloss-varnished" with a perfect plastic smile, during a lecture at the British Museum.
On the eve of the Duchess of Cambridge's return to the spotlight following her recent spell in hospital, novelist Mantel risked being carted off to the Tower after describing Our Kate as a "shop window mannequin with a plastic smile".
In a thoughtful lecture organized by the London Review of Books, Mantel suggested that Kate appeared "designed by a committee and built by craftsmen, with a perfect plastic smile and the spindles of her limbs hand-turned and gloss-varnished." She also indicated that Kate's role is to be admired and to breed, and called her "as painfully thin as anyone could wish, without quirks, without oddities, without the risk of the emergence of character."
WOLF Hall author Hilary Mantel likened Kate Middleton to a "shop-window mannequin" with a "plastic smile".
During a lecture at the British Museum, the double Booker Prize-winner said Kate appeared to have been "gloss-varnished" with a perfect plastic smile.
During a lecture at the British Museum, Mantel, the double Booker Prize winner, said Kate appeared to have been "gloss-varnished" with a perfect plastic smile, in contrast to Princess Diana, who she described as awkward and emotionally incontinent.
During a lecture at the British Museum, the double Booker Prize-winner said Kate appeared to have been "gloss-varnished" with a perfect plastic smile in contrast to Diana, Princess of Wales, whom she described as awkward and emotionally incontinent.
During a lecture at the British Museum two weeks ago, the double Booker Prize winner criticised Kate as appearing to have been "gloss-varnished" with a perfect plastic smile in contrast to Princess Diana, who she described as awkward and emotionally incontinent.
In his cross-gartered appearance before Olivia, Cordery's farcical Malvolio sported a "mustard-coloured superman suit with a zip dangerously unfastened to waist level, accompanied by a mandatory, plastic smile" (Observer, 5/2/05) and "a speedbiker's black lace-up leathers" (Stratford Herald, 5/5/05).
I mean a real and genuine one, not a plastic smile! I know you're thinking it's so easy to say it as I am just the writer and a dreamer, but mind you, this is the reality.
Mantel said at the London Review of Books Lecture that the duchess was "gloss varnished" with a "plastic smile."