The male is bluish-grey above with the side of the head and throat black. This is bordered by a narrow greyish white forehead and supercilium which extends round to the underparts. These can be a much darker grey than that shown here in birds from the western part of the Amazon Basin. The wing coverts are black with white edging which shows as 3 white wing-bars and compares with the unpatterned wings of the White-browed Antbird M. leucophrys. The iris is red.