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
Judith Regan, The Hollywood Reporter, 18 Apr. 2024
The light switches to yellow when the battery drops below 50%, then to red with less than 20%, and finally blinks red when less than 10% charge remains.
—PCMAG, 16 Apr. 2024
Lines like this, which spell everything out in blinking neon lights, run throughout Kuritzkes’ script.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 12 Apr. 2024
Monitors showed aerial footage from surveillance drones, and various radios and landline telephones blinked in a corner.
—Luke Mogelson, The New Yorker, 8 Apr. 2024
Prince Naveen was shown plucking a banjo, his eyes rolling and blinking in time with his strumming.
—Todd Martens, Los Angeles Times, 4 Apr. 2024
Heavy smoke begins billowing from the ship's exhaust stack, and then the lights blink out again.
—USA TODAY, 27 Mar. 2024
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
Brian Davids, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Apr. 2024
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, 17 Apr. 2024
The banal life of a middle-aged empty nester is violently shaken in the blink of an eye when hard-partying — and potentially dangerous — new neighbors move in next door.
—Jack Dunn, Variety, 17 Apr. 2024
Neither of the pieces gestures toward melody or rhythm, and, because of the way that the speakers are arranged, every movement, however slight—a breath, a blink—changes the shape of the sound.
—Amanda Petrusich, The New Yorker, 8 Apr. 2024
But in what seems like a blink of an eye, Apple’s sheen is starting to fade.
—Jeran Wittenstein, Fortune, 16 Mar. 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
Verb
Weeks later, News Corp blinked, and just like that, I was fired.
—Judith Regan, The Hollywood Reporter, 18 Apr. 2024
The light switches to yellow when the battery drops below 50%, then to red with less than 20%, and finally blinks red when less than 10% charge remains.
—PCMAG, 16 Apr. 2024
Lines like this, which spell everything out in blinking neon lights, run throughout Kuritzkes’ script.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 12 Apr. 2024
Monitors showed aerial footage from surveillance drones, and various radios and landline telephones blinked in a corner.
—Luke Mogelson, The New Yorker, 8 Apr. 2024
Prince Naveen was shown plucking a banjo, his eyes rolling and blinking in time with his strumming.
—Todd Martens, Los Angeles Times, 4 Apr. 2024
Heavy smoke begins billowing from the ship's exhaust stack, and then the lights blink out again.
—USA TODAY, 27 Mar. 2024
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
Noun
But, in the blink of an eye, everything fell apart.
—Brian Davids, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Apr. 2024
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, 17 Apr. 2024
The banal life of a middle-aged empty nester is violently shaken in the blink of an eye when hard-partying — and potentially dangerous — new neighbors move in next door.
—Jack Dunn, Variety, 17 Apr. 2024
Neither of the pieces gestures toward melody or rhythm, and, because of the way that the speakers are arranged, every movement, however slight—a breath, a blink—changes the shape of the sound.
—Amanda Petrusich, The New Yorker, 8 Apr. 2024
But in what seems like a blink of an eye, Apple’s sheen is starting to fade.
—Jeran Wittenstein, Fortune, 16 Mar. 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
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 23 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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