physiognomy

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

He aimed to capture the temperament and character of his sitters as revealed by their physiognomy.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 24, 2026

Eliza, who does not seem to belong there at all, is also hot — hotter than Petey’s former best friend, for even in cartoons, physiognomy is destiny.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 21, 2023

At the same exhibition, Degas showed four sketches of young men being tried for murder, which he had drawn from life; those, too, are informed by the day’s prevailing belief that physiognomy contained destiny.

From The New Yorker • Nov. 20, 2018

He combined the photographs with thorough criminal backgrounds, and he expected his detectives to know by heart the telltale physiognomy of each nefarious character.

From New York Times • Feb. 9, 2018

And the process of naming “the people” has never been a matter of genealogy and physiognomy so much as one of hierarchy.

From "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates