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170 Examples of Body Language

John Spacey, June 28, 2022

Body language is any element of your physical presence and performance that communicates to others. This includes your physical appearance, gestures, posture, movements, facial expressions, eye contact and touch. The meaning of body language is vague, cultural and is often unintended. For example, someone may look angry to you when they are really just stuck in deep thought. As such, it can be a bad idea to read too much into body language but it is important to be aware of your own body language as others commonly do read meaning from your every movement and expression.

Angry Looking Face	Arms Pumping in Air
Authentic / Natural Movements	Avoiding Eye Contact
Backing Away	Baring Your Teeth
Biting Lower Lip	Blinking Rapidly
Body Tension	Bored / Disengaged Face
Bowing	Checking the Time
Chewing a Pencil	Clammy Hands (e.g. during handshake)
Clamping Hands Over Ears	Clasping Arms Behind You
Clenching Fists	Cough / Sneeze Etiquette
Coughing / Sneezing	Covering Eyes
Covering Mouth / Touching Mouth	Crossing Fingers
Crossing Your Legs	Crushing Handshake
Crying / Sobbing / Wet Eyes	Dancing
Darting Eyes	Dead Fish Handshake (offering your slack hand)
Depicting an Object / Size With Your Hands	Dismissive Gestures
Doodling	Eating Etiquette
Exercising	Explanatory Gestures
Eye Contact	Faire la Bise / Cheek Kissing
Fake Smile / Uncomfortable Smile	Feet Up on Something
Fidgeting	Firm Handshake
Flowing Movements	Folding Your Arms
Foot Tapping	Forced / Awkward Movements
Forming a Cross With Your Arms (means no in some cultures)	Forming a Thin Line With the Lips
Forming an "O" With Your Arms (means yes in some cultures)	Freezing Your Body (usually indicates attention or fear)
Frowning	Furrowed Brow
Grimacing	Gritting Teeth
Grooming Yourself (e.g. fixing your hair)	Hair Flipping
Half-Smile	Hand Gestures
Hand On Shoulder	Hand on Forehead
Hands Around Mouth (i.e. to form a loudspeaker)	Hands in Pocket
Handshake with Arm Clasp	Handwringing
Happy Looking Face	Head Shaking
Head Tilt	High Fives / Special Handshakes
Hitting Your Forehead With Your Hand	Holding Arm Rests / Other Supportive Things
How You Write (e.g. confident and fast / slow and considered)	Hunched Shoulders
Impolite Gestures	Inattention (e.g. playing with phone during a meal)
Leaning Back	Leaning Forward
Leg Bouncing	Licking Lips
Look Over Top of Glasses	Look Up Through Eyelashes
Looking At Self (e.g. inspecting your well-manicured nails)	Looking Down Your Nose
Looking Sleepy / Nodding Off	Massaging Your Face / Temples
Narrow Stance	Narrowing Your Eyes
Nodding	Nudging Someone
Opening Mouth in Amazement	Pacing
Peace Sign	Pinching Your Nose
Placing Bag / Items In Front of You	Play Fighting / Rough and Tumble Play
Playfully Pushing Someone	Playing
Playing With Your Jewelry	Pointing
Pointing Your Ear At Someone (indicates inability to hear the person)	Polite Gestures
Pouting	Power Walk
Precise Movements	Pressed Lips
Proximity to Others	Puffing Up Your Upper Body
Pulling / Pushing Handshake	Pumping Handshake
Putting Hand to Heart	Putting Hands Out Protectively
Quick Head Nod (e.g. hurry up)	Raising Eye Brows
Rapid Breathing	Red Eyes
Relaxed Movements	Relaxed Walk
Resting Head on Hands	Robotic / Mechanical Movements
Rocking Back and Forth	Rolling Eyes
Rubbing Eyes	Running Hands Through Your Hair
Sarcastic Smile	Scratching
Shaking a Fist	Shallow Breathing
Showing Your Tongue / Pointing Your Tongue	Shrinking Away From Others
Sitting Up Straight	Sitting on Things That Aren't Chairs (e.g. sitting on desk)
Slack Jaw	Slack Posture
Slapping Your Leg	Slapping a Table
Slouching	Smiling
Snarling	Sparkling Eyes
Squinting Your Eyes	Standing Back
Standing Close	Standing Tall
Staring	Staring Into Space / Out a Window
Staring Someone Down	Stop Gesture (palms up, arms out)
Straightening Your Clothing	Stroking a Beard
Swallowing	Sweating / Pallor
Swinging Arms	Table Manners
Taking Notes	Taking a Deep Breath
Tapping Fingers	Thumbs In Your Belt
Thumbs Up / Thumbs Down	Trying to Catch Someone's Eye
Tucking Your Chin	Twirling a Pencil
Twisted Lips	Two-handed Handshake
Upright Posture	Walking Briskly
Waving Goodbye / Hello	Waving Hand Away From You
Waving Hand Towards You	Weak Handshake
Wide Eyes	Wide Stance
Winking	Yawning

Ambiguity, Biases & Cultural Context

As a vague form of communication that can be difficult to shape, body language can generate inaccuracies and biases. For example, someone who avoids eye contact may be perceived as dishonest when really they may be simply distracted, nervous or from a culture where certain types of eye contact can be viewed as arrogant and disrespectful.

Good & Bad

The idea there there is positive and negative body language is overly simplistic and neglects the nuance of human communication. For example, crossing arms could be used by a teacher to establish authority in a difficult situation. This may be perceived negatively in one situation but may be perfectly appropriate and useful in another.

Cultural Competence

The basic understanding that body language is not universal is important to cultural competence. When communicating with people with whom you lack shared norms and language, body language is incredibly helpful. However, it is also important to drop your assumptions as to what a particularly gesture, facial expression or movement may mean to others.

Overview: Body Language
Type	Nonverbal Communication
Definition	Any element of physical presence and performance that communicates information or emotion.
Types	Physical Appearance Gestures Posture Movements Facial Expressions Eye Contact Touch
Related Concepts	Nonverbal Communication » Cultural Competence »