derived word

facepalm

verb [I/T]

present tense
I/you/we/they
he/she/it	facepalms
present participle	facepalming
past tense	facepalmed
past participle	facepalmed

I just facepalmed so hard I nearly broke my nose.

 Synonyms and related words

To use a particular gesture to communicate something:acknowledge, bat your eyes/eyelashes, beckon...

facepalm also face-palm or face palm

the action of placing your hand flat across your face in order to show that you are frustrated or embarrassed about something

A smile, wink, frown, thumbs-up, thumbs-down, clenched fist, scratch of the head, grimace, furrow of the brow – all these are gestures of non-verbal communication which can convey our feelings far more effectively than words. And there's another gesture which you'll doubtless be familiar with, that expression of dismay, frustration or embarrassment conveyed by moving our hand up against our face. Though we may recognize it, how do we describe it? Well now there's finally a single term of reference for it: the word facepalm.

the facepalm is a gesture which is common in many cultures, and even sometimes seen in chimpanzees

If you're still having trouble visualizing exactly what a facepalm is, check out the following image. The facepalm is a gesture which is common in many cultures, and even sometimes seen in chimpanzees! Although a facepalm is usually used to express frustration or embarrassment, in the context of a surrounding conversation it can also be used to express other emotions, such as disgust or dismay. A facepalm is often a reaction to a momentary lapse in common sense, judgement, or logical behaviour. It can be directed towards another person – i.e.: a non-verbal way of saying "I can't believe you just said/did that …" – or used in a self-deprecating way to make it clear to others that you're aware that you've said or done something stupid.

Background – facepalm

The word facepalm is of course a compound (occurring as closed, hyphenated or open) formed from the nouns face and palm, where the latter refers to the inside part of the hand. It occurs as a countable noun and an intransitive verb.

Facepalm first appeared about five years ago, and has steadily gained ground as a popular term in Internet culture, galvanized by its status as an Internet meme (an idea that spreads very quickly via the Internet). One of the most popular facepalm images circulating the Web is of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, a character in the Star Trek Next Generation TV series, clutching his face in disbelief.

The word itself is most common in online discourse, where, much like LOL (an abbreviation for laughing out loud) it represents a conversational gesture or facial expression, effectively expressing a 'non-verbal' gesture in a 'verbal' way. There's also some evidence for the related term facefist, a kind of hyponym of facepalm which is used when a feeling of frustration is so overwhelming that you feel the need to punch yourself in the face – ouch!