(Discover even more words in The Writer’s Body Lexicon.)

The Nose: A Word-Tool for Writers

Imagine a protagonist who says “Randy’s nose is as snotty as his attitude.”

Would you remember Randy’s attitude?

This post provides more than 300 ways for writers to incorporate and describe noses.

Emotion Beats and Physical Manifestations

Emotional noses; who knew?

The way a character moves, manipulates, or touches the nose often reveals underlying emotions.

Pinching the bridge of one’s nose might signal deliberation, disapproval, impatience, negativity, opposition, pessimism, regret, or reluctance.

Pushing glasses onto the bridge of one’s nose might indicate curiosity, disagreement, or irritation.

Putting one’s nose in the air could signify contempt, derision, disgust, scorn, or smugness.

Rubbing one’s nose might be a sign of contemplation, deviousness, disbelief, dishonesty, doubt, evasion, indecision, insincerity, meditation, sadness, or skepticism.

Sniffing or wiping one’s nose could be a simple indication of allergies or sadness — or it might hide deceit or distrust.

Twitching one’s nose might reveal disappointment, disbelief, distress, or suspicion.

Wrinkling one’s nose is a common indicator of conflict, confusion, contempt, derision, disapproval, disgust, dismay, negativity, opposition, pessimism, puzzlement, rejection, scorn, or skepticism. With so many underlying causes, context should provide a clear motivation; otherwise, nose-wrinkling is best avoided.

If you need additional beats, consult a body language dictionary. (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.)

Adjectives Transform Noses into Memorable Facial Features

Well-written descriptions provide clear mental impressions. They may also tell about a character’s personality from the narrator’s perspective.

Someone with a nose of granite could represent the epitome of a harsh, inflexible person. Readers might also envision a greyish complexion.

A two-foot nose, although an exaggeration, establishes the presence of a humongous schnozzola.

Many words to describe skin also function as nose descriptors.

Noses Might Be Depicted as:

A to C

alcoholic, aquiline, arrogant, askew, beaked, beautiful, bent, bibulous, big, blobby, blunt, bloody, bold, bony, boozy, bovine, brazen, broad, broken, bubbling, bumped, childlike, chiseled, classic, cleft, coarse, colossal, comical, commanding, conspicuous, craggy, crooked, cruel, curved

D to H

daunting, defiant, delicate, dimpled, disdainful, distorted, droopy, dusty, effeminate, elegant, enormous, exotic, fake, false, fat, feline, feminine, feverish, fine, flaccid, flat, foot-long, freckled, frostbitten, garish, girly, glowing, granite, grimy, haggish, haughty, heavy, hoggish, hooked

I to O

imperious, impish, imposing, impudent, insignificant, intrusive, jolly, keen, knobby, lean, little, long, lopsided, lumpy, magisterial, mammoth, mangled, masculine, mashed, massive, meaty, miniscule, misshapen, monstrous, mud-covered, narrow, neat, needle-sharp, nodular, nondescript, off-center, oversized

P to R

petulant, pert, petite, pickled, piggy, pinched, pious, pixie, pliable, pliant, pockmarked, pointed, pompous, porcine, portentous, powdered, prodigious, prominent, protruding, proud, puckish, puffy, pug, pugnacious, refined, regal, rubbery, runny

S

saucy, scarred, scary, scorched, sculpted, serpentine, sharp, skeletal, skinny, slender, slippery, sloped, small, sniffly, snobbish, snotty, soft, sottish, spongy, squat, stately, straight, strong, squashed, stubborn, stubby, stuffy, stumpy, stupendous, sunken, supercilious, superior, sweat-beaded, swollen

T to Y

thick, thin, thoroughbred, tiny, twisted, two-foot, ulcerated, underdeveloped, veined, velvety, vinous, vulpine, wavy, waxen, weak, wide, wooden, wrinkled, wry, yielding

Try Similes or Metaphors

A button nose, although cliché, relays the pleasant impression of a cute bump in the center of someone’s face.

A nose like a wedge of Swiss cheese conjures the image of a pockmarked, yellowish nose. Readers would expect the complexion to match.

Writers might create comparisons with the following words or rely on them as nouns to replace nose.

• anteater snout
• baseball bat
• beet
• bugle
• bull snout
• bulldog schnoz
• button
• carrot
• clown conk
• cucumber
• dill pickle
• elephant trunk
• fire iron
• firehose nozzle
• hatchet handle
• horse muzzle
• jackal sniffer
• jester nose
• jet-plane nose
• liar’s snout
• locomotive cow-catcher
• pig snout
• plasticine lump
• playdough protuberance
• raw clay
• shark fin
• ship’s prow
• ski hill
• ski jump
• unicorn horn
• wedge of Swiss cheese

Color Adds Character

Noses may be a different color from the face, especially if they’ve been exposed to the elements.

An anemic nose might match a character who doesn’t eat well; or the person might be ill.

Tanned or sunburnt noses would be appropriate for lifeguards or landscapers.

Here’s a short list of colors.

A to Y

anemic, ashen, bronzed, brown, burnt, colorless, florid, flushed, grey, jaundiced, pale, pallid, pasty, pink, red, rosy, rubicund, ruddy, sallow, sunburnt, suntanned, tan, tanned, wan, white, yellow

See 1001+ Ways to Describe Colors for more possibilities.

Noses Need Shapes

A serpentine shape could pair with a scam artist. A fleshy nose might be suitable for an overweight banker.

Try some of these, and see the Adjectives section for more ideas.

A to H

arched, aristocratic, bulbous, bumpy, cauliflower, concave, conical, convex, diamond-shaped, East Asian, fleshy, funnel, Grecian, Groucho, hawk, Hebraic

N to W

Napoleonic, Nixon, Neanderthal, Nubian, patrician, Pinocchio, plebeian, Romanesque, scooped, serpentine, snub, square, triangular, turned-up, upturned, wedge-shaped

Noses Need Verbs Too

As mentioned near the beginning of this post, noses don’t sit lifeless in the middle of the face.

They might:

B to W

bleed, break, bugle, burn, crinkle, distort, flare, itch, jerk, nuzzle, point, poke, press, push, run, scrunch, sting, stuff up, throb, trumpet, twist, twitch, wrinkle

A Nose by Any Other Name Is Still a Nose …

… but other names are more fun.

A smeller might be ideal for a chef with a discriminating palate, or for a border guard well-known because of his nasal acuity and associated drug busts.

An intrusive woman who pries into neighbors’ affairs could be described as having a snooper.

Scan this mini-list for a few possibilities.

B to W

beak, conk, honker, hooter, muzzle, olfactory organ, orc’s nose, proboscis, schnoz, schnozzle, schnozzola, smeller, sneezer, sniffer, snooper, snoot, snout, snuffler, whiffer, wizard’s nose

Props Mean More Than Books

Although writers like to imagine people with their noses stuck in books, real life doesn’t work that way. Instead, characters might wear, be burdened by, or interact with:

G to W

glasses, handkerchiefs, medical masks, moles, nasal sprays, nose hairs, nose rings, pimples, scars, scarves, sinus rinses, straws, studs, sunblock, swim clips, tattoos, tissues, warts

What About Clichés and Idioms?

Depending on the tone of the narrative, an occasional platitude might be appropriate. I’ll tackle a few.

• brown-noser: toady, sycophant
• to be a hard nose: Act detached, stern, unfeeling, unforgiving, unsympathetic, or excessively businesslike.
• to brown-nose: Act obsequiously subservient, especially with superiors, in an attempt to curry favors or win approval.
• to count noses: Count people, usually to determine the outcome of a vote or the number of individuals present.
• to keep one’s nose clean: behave, do the right thing, obey the rules, stay out of trouble
• to look down one’s nose at: Exhibit a superior attitude or act in a snobbish or haughty manner.
• to nose around: pry, snoop, try to discover the truth
• to rub somebody’s nose in it: Harp about or draw attention to something embarrassing that someone has done.
• to thumb one’s nose at: deride, dismiss as worthless, treat with a lack of respect
• under one’s nose: Something that is under one’s nose is in plain sight, even though the person searching for it doesn’t see it.