piercing gaze
Eyes that penetrate
A piercing gaze is an intense, penetrating look that seems to see through someone—past their surface to their thoughts or secrets.
The phrase suggests uncomfortable scrutiny, as if the looker's eyes were sharp enough to cut: She fixed him with a piercing gaze until he confessed.
Often attributed to authority figures, interrogators, or the perceptive.
- intenseExtreme in degree
- stareProlonged fixed gaze
- death stareIntensely hostile glare
- eyesOrgans of sight
- burning eyesPainful, irritated sight organs
sharp · penetrating · look right through · cold · cold stare · steely · unwavering · glare · icy glare · scrutiny · icy · hard look · hawk · eagle eye · laser · cutting · watchful · unblinking
- keen observationhawk eye, sharp eye, watchful eye, trained eye, hard look
- perceptionsee, vision, seeing, senses, observing
- eye movementsblink, stare, glance, squint, wink
- eyesblue eyes, brown eyes, green eyes, hazel eyes, amber eyes
piercing gazevacant stare
Unfocused, uncomprehending expression
glazed look · passing glance · cursory look · sidelong glance · wandering eyes
pierce, pierced, piercer, piercers, pierces, piercing, piercingly, gaze, gazed