I've seen 浮かべる used thus: 「してやったり！」の表情を浮かべる and 不敵な笑みを浮かべる. Given that it uses
を with a noun, it would be a transitive verb, right? I'm wondering if the best
translation would be "To show/to express". Finally, is it used with only
facial expressions?

As for the rest of them, I'm struggling to properly distinguish them. I would
like to be able to say "It makes me think of home" or something along those
lines. If these words are uncommon or there are better words, then please let
me know.
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2017-09-08T19:48:41.007
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question
grammar words
How does one use 「浮かべる」、「浮かぶ」、「思い浮かべる」、and 「思い浮かぶ」？
As for your example, **It makes me think of home.**

It sounds like you have a lucid image of hometown, therefore you can say
**故郷が思い浮かぶ**.

On the other hand, **故郷が浮かぶ** sounds like images just simply pop up in your
head and it's not so important or you have a vague image of hometown. Since
**浮かぶ** is associated with an expression like **雑念が浮かぶ: miscellaneous thought
comes into mind.** which is a collection of unstable images. Therefore, in my
opinion, **故郷が思い浮かぶ** sounds you are retrospecting your hometown rather than
saying **故郷が浮かぶ**.
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2017-09-08T21:56:01.730
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answer
The obvious difference here is that 浮かぶ is intransitive whereas 浮かべる is
transitive. Therefore you have to say 彼は笑み **を** 浮かべた and 彼の顔に笑み **が** 浮かんだ.
The former implies he did it deliberately, while the latter implies the smile
might have appeared beyond his control. 浮かぶ/浮かべる can be used with various
things that can "surface" or "emerge". For example 皮膚に浮かんだ血管 refers to a
vessel that has come to the surface of the skin. 容疑者として浮かんだ人 refers to a
person who emerged as a crime suspect during an investigation.

思い浮かぶ (intransitive) and 思い浮かべる (transitive) are both used to express ideas in
one's mind, as the 思い part suggests. 浮かぶ is interchangeable with 思い浮かぶ when it
express some idea coming into your mind suddenly or spontaneously:

>   * ある考えが思い浮かんだ。 A certain idea came into my mind.
>   * ある考えが浮かんだ。 A certain idea came into my mind.
>

思い浮かべる can be simply translated as "to imagine". It's usually _not_
interchangeable with 浮かべる.

>   * 星を見ているところを思い浮かべてください。 Imagine you're watching stars.
>   * [×] 星を見ているところを浮かべてください。 (incorrect)
>
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2017-09-12T05:42:39.287
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answer