compursion

From com- (prefix meaning ‘together’) +‎ purse (“to press (one’s lips) in and together so that they protrude”, verb) +‎ -ion (suffix denoting an action or process, or condition or state).^[1]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kəmˈpɜːʒn̩/, /-ʃn̩/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• (General American) IPA^(key): /kəmˈpɜɹʒən/, /-ʃən/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Homophone: compersion
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)ʃən
• Hyphenation: com‧purs‧ion

compursion (plural compursions)

1. (chiefly humorous, rare) A pursing, as of the lips.
   • 1761, [Laurence Sterne], The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, volume IV, London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley […], →OCLC:

     However, as he knew not what the true cause might turn out, he deemed it most prudent, in the situation he was in at present, to bear it, if possible, like a Stoic, which, with the help of some wry faces and compursions of the mouth, he had certainly accomplished, had his imagination continued neuter: […]

   • 2001, Jamie O'Neill, At Swim, Two Boys, page 254:

     A compursion of the boy's face. "Does it mean something I don't understand?"

Not to be confused with compersion (“vicarious joy associated with seeing one's partner have a joyful romantic or sexual relationship with another person”).