Wide eyes express emotion, but too many wide-eyed looks in a story dilute their impact. This post suggests ways to replace those enlarged orbs with alternative wording.

As you read, consider the appearance of widened eyes. Because they are moist, they reflect light, reveal brighter colors, mirror their surroundings, and expose details such as blood vessel dilation or pinkeye.

Redundancies

Beware overstatement. Review the following noun phrases, noting strikeouts. In each phrase, the underlined word is followed by its definition. The reasons for the strikeouts should become obvious by the time you reach the definition for stare.

wide-eyed gape: an open-mouthed *stare

wide-eyed gawk: a synonym for gape

wide-eyed gawp: a stupid or rude *stare

wide-eyed glare: an angry or fierce *stare

wide-eyed goggle: a look, typically in amazement, with wide eyes

wide-eyed ogle: a lecherous *stare

wide-eyed rubberneck: a whipping around of the head to *stare at something in a foolish manner

wide-eyed *stare: a fixed look with wide eyes

Every noun already includes the concept of wide eyes, which makes the crossed-out words superfluous.

Emotion Beats and Physical Manifestations

Writers should provide context that shows why facial features act or react. Wide eyes could be caused by a number of emotions, including:

C to S
compassion, concentration, curiosity, denial, disbelief, disagreement, doubt, emotional overwhelm, fear, happiness, joy, shock, skepticism [think of Mr. Spock with his raised eyebrows], surprise, sympathy

Stand in front of a mirror and act out the emotions. Where do you place your feet and hands? Do you lean forward or backward? Sideways? Where is your head? What about your lips?

While each image is fresh in your mind, jot down a description.

Did you notice any of the following beats?

Pay attention to the strikeouts of redundant words.

Compassion
placing a hand on someone’s shoulder
leaning toward the other person
listening intently and responding with appropriate platitudes

Concentration
furrowed brow
infrequent blinking
one hand on chin or cheek

Curiosity
wrinkling one’s nose
tilting/cocking one’s head to the side
raising one’s eyebrows quickly and then dropping them again (eyebrow “flash”)

Denial
shaking one’s head back and forth
crossing one’s arms across the chest
leaning away from an accuser
refuting allegations while wagging an index finger

Disbelief
rubbing one eye
touching or rubbing one’s nose
holding an outspread hand over one’s face

Disagreement
pursing one’s lips
shaking one’s head back and forth
crossing one’s arms across the chest

Doubt
sucking in one’s lips
rubbing or touching one’s nose
pinching the bridge of one’s nose

Emotional overwhelm
tugging at one’s hair
clenching fists or a personal object
placing palms against one’s forehead

Fear
taut brow
self-hugging
quick, erratic movements

Happiness, joy
twinkling eyes
laugh lines in the corners of one’s eyes
open body posture [no crossed arms or legs]

Shock, surprise
dropped jaw
taking a step back
quick movement of a palm to cover one’s mouth

**Skepticism
standing akimbo
angling one’s body away from the other person
leaning one’s head on thumb and fingers of one hand

**Provide context with skepticism, which can also be indicated by narrowed eyes.

Sympathy
slightly tilting one’s head to the side
placing an open hand over one’s heart
keeping body turned toward the other person

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

Adjectives (1): Descriptors for Wide-Eyed Characters

The following character descriptors could replace wide-eyed, but most are tells, practical in action scenes or stories where word economy is important. When feasible, opt instead for showing the emotions behind these words.

Careful of owl-eyed or owly-eyed characters. The former could refer to someone with sharp vision, the latter to a person who is grumpy or ill-tempered.

A to D
affronted, afraid, agape, aghast, agog, alarmed, amazed, anxious, appalled, astonished, astounded, awestruck, befuddled, bewildered, blank, blank-eyed, bowled over, cautious, compassionate, confounded, contemplative, contentious, curious, dazed, delighted, disbelieving, dissenting, distressed, doubtful, dubious, dumbfounded, dumbstruck

E to O
eager, earnest, enthralled, enthusiastic, fearful, fervent, fervid, flabbergasted, flummoxed, foxed, frightened, gobsmacked, guarded, happy, horror-struck, impassioned, incredulous, insulted, joyful, leery, meditative, moon-eyed, mystified, nonplussed, offended, on tenterhooks, openmouthed, overwhelmed

P to Z
passionate, perplexed, pie-eyed [careful: could mean drunk, intoxicated], popeyed, pugnacious, quarrelsome, round-eyed, saucer-eyed, scared, scrappy, shaken, shocked, shook, skeptical, staggered, starry-eyed, startled, stumped, stunned, stupefied, surprised, suspicious, sympathetic, taken aback, thunderstruck, truculent, wary, zealous

Adjectives (2): Descriptors for Wide Eyes

When modifying eyes, try replacing wide with one of the following words.

B to T
ballooned, buggy, bulbous, bulging, dilated, distended, doe [cliché], enlarged, flashbulb, froggy, goggle, goggley, googly, overlarge, protuberant, protruding, stretched, swollen, toadish

Create more descriptors by adapting character adjectives. For example, a curious character could have curious eyes, and a quarrelsome character might have quarrelsome eyes. However, these and similar phrases break the show, don’t tell rule.

Similes and Metaphors

Scrutinize these idea starters for similes or metaphors that directly or indirectly compare wide eyes to something else. Rather than copy them, develop your own wording.

blazing cinders

bulging like goldfish gogglers

disks of cold fire

double doorknobs

double LED lights flashing [delight, disagreement, shock]

giant black olives glaring at someone

huge, shimmering nuggets of [gold, silver, steel]

humongous gooseberries of skepticism

large as the pizza someone is devouring

shimmering pools of compassion

the size and color of sliced kiwifruits

the size of cantaloupes

twin silver dollars beneath peaked brows

Verbs and Phrasal Verbs

Some verbs in this section and the next would suit mainstream fiction. Others might be more appropriate for humor or sci-fi.

As mentioned at the beginning of this post, when eyes open wide, they catch more light. That’s reflected (pun intended) by some of the following verbs, as well as multiple phrases in the Similes and Metaphors section.

Eyes could:

B to T
balloon, beam, blaze, bug out, distend, enlarge, expand, flame, flare, flash, get bigger, glaze, gleam, glint, glisten, glow, pop, protrude, radiate [joy, shock, surprise], shimmer, shine, spark, sparkle, swell, turn into [Frisbees, hockey pucks, saucers], twinkle

Rather than widen their eyes, characters could:

E to S
eyeball, gape, gawk, gawp, glare, goggle, ogle, raise their eyebrows, roll their eyes, rubberneck, stare

Nouns and Noun Phrases

Consider character motivation. If it’s fear, fraidy-cat gogglers could work. Owlish orbs might be appropriate for a wise elder.

More options:

B to I
beacons, beady orbs, billiard balls, gogglers, headlamps, headlights [provide context; could refer to breasts], immense globes