blinker

1 of 2

noun

blink·​er ˈbliŋ-kər How to pronounce blinker (audio)
1
: one that blinks
especially : a light that flashes off and on as a warning or a signal
2
b
: a cloth hood with shades projecting at the sides of the eye openings used on skittish racehorses
usually used in plural
3
blinkers plural : blinder sense 2

blinker

2 of 2

verb

blinkered; blinkering; blinkers

Examples of blinker in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Conway discovered a pattern called the blinker, which oscillates between two states. Alex Stone, Quanta Magazine, 18 Jan. 2024 Inside the Carlee Russell Case: What Happened to Woman Who Vanished After Calling 911 to Report Child Missing? Traffic camera footage from last Thursday shows what police believe to be Russell's red Mercedes slowing down along the highway with its blinkers on before making a stop. Sean Neumann, Peoplemag, 19 July 2023 Traffic camera footage shows what police believe to be Russell’s car slowing down with its blinkers on and then stopping alongside the interstate. Sean Neumann, Peoplemag, 19 July 2023 Angel of Empire is the third choice at 7-2 and will wear blinkers to keep him focused. Beth Harris, BostonGlobe.com, 6 June 2023 After the filly’s second-place finish March 25 in the Fair Grounds Oaks, Walsh made the decision to add blinkers to Pretty Mischievous before the Kentucky Oaks. Jason Frakes, The Courier-Journal, 5 May 2023 Potter and another officer pulled Wright over for having a blinker on in the wrong turn lane, expired tags and an air freshener hanging from his rearview mirror. N'dea Yancey-Bragg, USA TODAY, 24 Apr. 2023 No blinker needed, just a friendly wave. Leslie Anne Tarabella, al, 4 Nov. 2020 The driver shut off his blinker, turned our way and picked us up. Jon Gluck, New York Times, 21 Mar. 2023
Verb
The idea of ‘shadow biospheres’ or multiple origins of terrestrial life sounds intriguing, and certainly helps bring focus to the fact that we can be very blinkered in our outlook. Sean Carroll, Discover Magazine, 20 Nov. 2019 In the sensitive hands of director Lila Neugebauer and her top-notch cast, these people are complicated and they’re blinkered, monstrous and pitiable, trying and failing, not individually hateful and collectively matured in a slow cooker of unexamined bias and malice. Sara Holdren, Vulture, 18 Dec. 2023 In each time period, David Kelly plays a well-meaning but blinkered man of the cloth; Sheila Tousey does the wise, wry matriarchs; and Rainbow Dickerson gets the reproachful sisters. Sara Holdren, Vulture, 5 Dec. 2023 Hedwig, blinkered by the bounty of her domestic environs, seemingly ignores the infernal light and smoke from nearby chimney stacks, and otherwise blocks out the machinery of mass death: the barking of guard dogs, the rumbling of crematoria, the crack of pistols, the screams of prisoners. Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, 27 Nov. 2023 Obtuse with innocence, blinkered by a lifetime of dissimulation before authority, E was slow to realize that many of these men—including his brother—were homosexual. Rachel Cusk, Harper's Magazine, 10 Sep. 2023 Lloyd, the boomer, is well-meaning, kind, liberal, and blinkered. Sara Holdren, Vulture, 18 Sep. 2023 But a meme is just more data, blinkered and bastardized; one thing that cannot be information is a work of art. Jason Farago, New York Times, 7 Sep. 2023 But for all her father’s righteous resistance to authority, his parenting was by turns blinkered, oppressive and physically abusive. Mark Athitakis, Los Angeles Times, 28 Aug. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'blinker.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

blink entry 1 + -er entry 2

First Known Use

Noun

1637, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1823, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of blinker was in 1637

Dictionary Entries Near blinker

Cite this Entry

“Blinker.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blinker. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

blinker

noun
blink·​er
ˈbliŋ-kər
1
: one that blinks
especially : a blinking light used as a warning or for signaling
2

More from Merriam-Webster on blinker

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