blinked; blinking; blinks
1
a
obsolete
: to look glancingly : peep
b
: to look with half-shut eyes
c
: to close and open the eyes involuntarily
2
: to shine dimly or intermittently
3
a
: to look with too little concern
b
: to look with surprise or dismay
1
a
: to cause to blink
b
: to remove (something, such as tears) from the eye by blinking
2
: to deny recognition to
Synonyms
Examples of blink in a Sentence
Verb
She blinked when the light flashed.
Her eyes blinked when the light flashed.
She blinked her eyes when the light flashed.
Recent Examples on the Web
USA TODAY, 27 Mar. 2024
Oh, also, one night all the stars in the sky start blinking on and off.
—James Poniewozik, New York Times, 20 Mar. 2024
European drivers would come to America and see a blinking red light.
—Quartz Staff, Quartz, 19 Mar. 2024
Those who want to be able to blink and open their eyes should look for one with contoured eye cups.
—Theresa Holland, Travel + Leisure, 26 Feb. 2024
Its yellow eyes stared into the trees without blinking.
—Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, 13 Feb. 2024
On Wednesday, Timberlake shared a response video that featured him pulling down a pair of sunglasses and blinking twice, before pulling them back up and smiling.
—Rachel Desantis, Peoplemag, 28 Feb. 2024
For a few weeks in April (again, timing depends on weather), the woods fill with thousands of blinking fireflies at dusk.
—Bonnie Gross, Miami Herald, 30 Jan. 2024
If there is a rush — a latecomer to a large party, someone who has to dash back to the office or a child — the ticket blinks.
—Jill Wendholt Silva, Kansas City Star, 24 Jan. 2024
Jason Lipshutz, Billboard, 3 Apr. 2024
Staring vacantly into space, Ruby shut her eyes for extended blinks.
—Emily Palmer, Peoplemag, 22 Mar. 2024
The next day, the stoner, Saul Durand (Jovan Adepo), chalks the experience up to an elaborate hoax; the rest of the world also saw the stars twinkle in code, but the celestial blinks went undetected by Earth’s most powerful telescopes.
—Inkoo Kang, The New Yorker, 18 Mar. 2024
In a rematch of the 2022 final – which Świątek clinched with a similarly imperious 6-4 6-1 win – the Pole narrowly edged a back-and-forth opening set, but the second was over in the blink of an eye.
—Matias Grez, CNN, 18 Mar. 2024
Some day soon or further off, synthetic narrators and actors might be commonplace and accepted without so much as a blink, but for now there is room for debate: What is lost and what is gained when a machine does the work of a human performer?
—Roxana Popescu, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 Mar. 2024
No tension, just a blink of internal struggle, and then Paul—the messiah, the Lisan al Gaib—rides to the rescue on the back of a sandworm.
—Angela Watercutter, WIRED, 1 Mar. 2024
After all, while these fantastical spaces can be dreamed up in the blink of an eye, these visuals are not based in the reality of a tight budget or structural limitations.
—Kelsey Mulvey, Sunset Magazine, 7 Mar. 2024
Spectrum Original article from 17 August 2012 follows: Wirelessly transfer huge files in the blink of an eye!
—IEEE Spectrum, 7 Mar. 2024
Verb
Investigation:Baltimore bridge collapse wasn't first major accident for giant container ship Dali
Livestream video of the bridge at the time shows the ship's navigation and warning lights blinking out around 1:24 a.m.
—USA TODAY, 27 Mar. 2024
Oh, also, one night all the stars in the sky start blinking on and off.
—James Poniewozik, New York Times, 20 Mar. 2024
European drivers would come to America and see a blinking red light.
—Quartz Staff, Quartz, 19 Mar. 2024
Those who want to be able to blink and open their eyes should look for one with contoured eye cups.
—Theresa Holland, Travel + Leisure, 26 Feb. 2024
Its yellow eyes stared into the trees without blinking.
—Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, 13 Feb. 2024
On Wednesday, Timberlake shared a response video that featured him pulling down a pair of sunglasses and blinking twice, before pulling them back up and smiling.
—Rachel Desantis, Peoplemag, 28 Feb. 2024
For a few weeks in April (again, timing depends on weather), the woods fill with thousands of blinking fireflies at dusk.
—Bonnie Gross, Miami Herald, 30 Jan. 2024
If there is a rush — a latecomer to a large party, someone who has to dash back to the office or a child — the ticket blinks.
—Jill Wendholt Silva, Kansas City Star, 24 Jan. 2024
Noun
Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip.
—Jason Lipshutz, Billboard, 3 Apr. 2024
Staring vacantly into space, Ruby shut her eyes for extended blinks.
—Emily Palmer, Peoplemag, 22 Mar. 2024
The next day, the stoner, Saul Durand (Jovan Adepo), chalks the experience up to an elaborate hoax; the rest of the world also saw the stars twinkle in code, but the celestial blinks went undetected by Earth’s most powerful telescopes.
—Inkoo Kang, The New Yorker, 18 Mar. 2024
In a rematch of the 2022 final – which Świątek clinched with a similarly imperious 6-4 6-1 win – the Pole narrowly edged a back-and-forth opening set, but the second was over in the blink of an eye.
—Matias Grez, CNN, 18 Mar. 2024
Some day soon or further off, synthetic narrators and actors might be commonplace and accepted without so much as a blink, but for now there is room for debate: What is lost and what is gained when a machine does the work of a human performer?
—Roxana Popescu, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 Mar. 2024
No tension, just a blink of internal struggle, and then Paul—the messiah, the Lisan al Gaib—rides to the rescue on the back of a sandworm.
—Angela Watercutter, WIRED, 1 Mar. 2024
After all, while these fantastical spaces can be dreamed up in the blink of an eye, these visuals are not based in the reality of a tight budget or structural limitations.
—Kelsey Mulvey, Sunset Magazine, 7 Mar. 2024
Spectrum Original article from 17 August 2012 follows: Wirelessly transfer huge files in the blink of an eye!
—IEEE Spectrum, 7 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'blink.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near blink
Cite this Entry
“Blink.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blink. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
blink
1 of 2 verb1
a
: to look with half-shut eyes
b
: to close and open the eyes involuntarily
2
: to wink quickly
blink back tears
3
: to shine with a light that goes or seems to go on and off
streetlights blinking through rain
blink
2 of 2 noun1
2
: a shutting and opening of the eyes
Medical Definition
blink
1 of 2 intransitive verb
: to close and open the eyes involuntarily (as when struggling against drowsiness or when dazzled)
1
: to close and open (the eye) involuntarily
2
: to remove (as tears) from the eye by blinking
blink
2 of 2 noun
: a usually involuntary shutting and opening of the eye
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