blank

1 of 3

adjective

ˈblaŋk

archaic : colorless

: appearing or causing to appear dazed, confounded, or nonplussed

stared in blank dismay

: expressionless

a blank stare

: devoid of covering or content

a blank space

: such as

(1)

: free from writing or marks

a blank sheet of paper

(2)

: without any recorded sound or information

a blank drive/DVD/disk

: having spaces to be filled in

a blank application form

noun

obsolete : the bull's-eye of a target

: an empty space (as on a paper)

: a paper with spaces for the entry of data

an order blank

: a piece of material prepared to be made into something (such as a key) by a further operation

: a cartridge loaded with propellant and a seal but no projectile

: an empty or featureless place or space

my mind was a blank

: a vacant or uneventful period

a long blank in history

: a dash substituting for an omitted word

blank

3 of 3

verb

blanked; blanking; blanks

transitive verb

: obscure, obliterate

blank out a line

: to stop access to : seal

blank off a tunnel

: to keep (an opponent) from scoring

were blanked for eight innings

British slang : to treat (a friend or acquaintance) in a hostile or unfriendly way : to ignore or refuse to talk to (someone)

And unpopular Gardiner has found himself isolated after the show's cast and crew blanked him.

Mark Jefferies

intransitive verb

: fade

—usually used with out

the music blanked out

: to become confused or abstracted

—often used with out

his mind blanked out momentarily

Choose the Right Synonym for blank

empty, vacant, blank, void, vacuous mean lacking contents which could or should be present.

empty suggests a complete absence of contents.

an empty bucket

vacant suggests an absence of appropriate contents or occupants.

a vacant apartment

blank stresses the absence of any significant, relieving, or intelligible features on a surface.

a blank wall

void suggests absolute emptiness as far as the mind or senses can determine.

a statement void of meaning

vacuous suggests the emptiness of a vacuum and especially the lack of intelligence or significance.

a vacuous facial expression

Example Sentences

Adjective a blank sheet of paper a book with blank pages Noun The form has a blank for your signature. The actors are shooting blanks. Verb The goalie blanked the Falcons for two periods in the hockey game.

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

Szczesny thwarted al-Dawsari again early in the second half when the Saudi midfielder collected a rebound in front of goal and fired from point-blank range.

Andrew Das Andrew Das Andrew Das Sam Manchester Andrew Das The New York Times Rory Smith Rory Smith Victor Mather, New York Times, 26 Nov. 2022 In the 41st minute, Arkansas failed to clear a corner kick and Lily Huber flicked the ball into the net from point-blank range during the ensuing scramble.

Arkansas Online, 21 Nov. 2022 Denver scored three minutes into the first OT, when USD goalkeeper Jason Dubrovich saved a point-blank shot but Kengo Ohira slotted in the rebound for the game’s only goal.

Mark Zeigler, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Nov. 2022 Putting blank pages into any hardcover books from Dr. Seuss to Nancy Drew, Deatherage emails directly with customers to make sure each person is getting something special.

Los Angeles Times, 2 Nov. 2022 Some countries also require a specific number of blank pages remaining in your passport, so that's another thing to check with your destination's embassy website.

Michael Salerno, The Arizona Republic, 25 Oct. 2022 But then, unexpectedly, several of the guards refused point-blank to kill the girls.

Caroline Hallemann, Town & Country, 14 Nov. 2022 Meanwhile, a stack of 13 ordinary blank notebooks, valued below $200, will also fetch thousands.

Kate Dwyer, WSJ, 14 Nov. 2022 Isidra Huizar, the councilman’s 83-year-old mother, testified that her son occasionally asked her to give him blank checks in return for cash.

Michael Finnegan, Los Angeles Times, 10 Nov. 2022

Noun

Forget preening through South Beach, or casually dropping the names of high-profile marques at parties—the Revolution moniker will draw a blank.

Lawrence Ulrich, Robb Report, 10 Nov. 2022 There is a flash, a blank of time, and then comes a sequel to this tiny scene, clearly still the same setting, likely only moments later.

Jeff Nelson, Peoplemag, 28 Oct. 2022 Plug your computer, cellphone or one of the company’s synths into one side, throw on a rubber blank, and record up to three minutes of audio on each side.

Daniel Varghese, WSJ, 11 Oct. 2022 Your leaving us has left a great blank in our lives.

Heather Finn, Good Housekeeping, 20 Sep. 2022 Basma Abu Hattab, who served as a supervisor on the solar panel installation for the blood blank, said the solar panels add at least 10 more hours of capacity but still advised that the blood bank keep a generator on standby.

Rima Abdelkader, NBC News, 23 Aug. 2022 Segel earns some empathy as a hangdog Everyman, though his backstory remains such a deliberate blank that any insight is mostly gleaned from his blundering missteps and low-simmering misery.

Leah Greenblatt, EW.com, 18 Mar. 2022 But the bill stops short of banning all functional guns — including blank-firing weapons — from film and TV sets.

Gene Maddaus, Variety, 12 Jan. 2022 So, draw your own conclusion by filling in the blank in the following sentence with a) or b).

Gordon Monson, The Salt Lake Tribune, 19 Dec. 2021

Verb

Before starter Cristian Javier and three Houston relievers combined to blank the Phillies on Wednesday night, the only no-hitter in the World Series was a perfect game by Don Larsen of the New York Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1956.

Creg Stephenson | Cstephenson@al.com, al, 3 Nov. 2022 The night before, on Causeway Street, the Bruins smacked the Red Wings, 5-1, only to take the ice here 24 hours later and blank the Blue Jackets, backed by Linus Ullmark’s 30 saves.

Kevin Paul Dupont, BostonGlobe.com, 28 Oct. 2022 Still, Silver managed to blank on an essential detail.

Arden Fanning Andrews, Vogue, 23 Sep. 2022 May surviving a rocky 26-pitch first inning to blank the Miami Marlins on one hit and strike out nine in five shutout innings of a 7-0 victory in front of 51,813 at Dodger Stadium.

Mike Digiovanna, Los Angeles Times, 20 Aug. 2022 Blanchard managed to force two pop outs and a strikeout to blank Fairfield-Ludlowe with the night’s drama at its peak.

Joe Arruda, Hartford Courant, 7 June 2022 Jack Brown and Joey Wilmoth helped the Tigers blank the Shamrocks the following day.

Akeem Glaspie, The Indianapolis Star, 25 Apr. 2022 But a strikeout of Hays with an 88-mph changeup to end the inning seemed to catapult Syndergaard into the rest of his night, the 6-foot-6, 230-pounder needing only 63 pitches to blank the Orioles on two hits over the next 4 2/3 innings.

Mike Digiovanna, Los Angeles Times, 23 Apr. 2022 The North Eastern girls varsity high school ice hockey team traveled to Piney Orchard Ice Rink last Friday to face and blank Howard County, 6-0.

Randy Mcroberts, baltimoresun.com, 24 Nov. 2021 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'blank.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Word History

Etymology

Adjective

Middle English, from Anglo-French blanc colorless, white, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German blanch white; probably akin to Latin flagrare to burn — more at black entry 1

First Known Use

Adjective

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun

circa 1570, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1764, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a

Time Traveler

The first known use of blank was in the 14th century

See more words from the same century