1
of the eyes or vision : dull or dimmed especially from fatigue or sleep
2
: poorly outlined or defined : dim
a bleary view
3
: very tired
bleary travelers
blearily adverb
bleariness noun

Examples of bleary in a Sentence

She looked at me with bleary eyes. disoriented, bleary passengers departing from the red-eye
Recent Examples on the Web The second night of back-to-back games on an Eastern road swing Friday night will include some bleary eyes when the Warriors (31-27) visit the Toronto Raptors (22-37). Jerry McDonald, The Mercury News, 1 Mar. 2024 The smell of decomposition hung so heavily over the base that a bearded volunteer, eyes bleary but kind, offered eucalyptus oil to sprinkle inside masks. Laura King, Los Angeles Times, 17 Oct. 2023 The title refers to the video game, familiar to the bleary eyes of PlayStation devotees, which allows the user to relish all the thrills—and, in painless form, the spills—of high-speed driving without the shame of environmental pollution or the torment of bickering about a parking spot. Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 18 Aug. 2023 The best Weeknd songs are expeditions into the bleary morality of the middle of the night, a conflict between wise inklings and disastrous impulses. Vulture, 30 June 2023 Rendered in a bleary style that connotes distance and loss, the artworks evoke the Holocaust-era flight of the artist’s father from Lisbon — whose harbor is also pictured — to Glasgow. Mark Jenkins, Washington Post, 12 May 2023 Ripe for gripes Late-morning ales in hand, Kieran Falloon and Michael O’Neill look a little bleary after crossing the Irish Sea on an eight-hour overnight ferry from Belfast. Michael Silverman, BostonGlobe.com, 23 Mar. 2023 Two days before The Times visited, the 79th brigade had suffered heavy losses, the toll of unrelenting combat evident in their bleary and bloodshot eyes. Tyler Hicks Marc Santora, New York Times, 5 Mar. 2023 His eyes were red and bleary. Simon Rich, The New Yorker, 6 July 2021

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

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of bleary was in the 14th century

Dictionary Entries Near bleary

Cite this Entry

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

Medical Definition

bleary

adjective
of the eyes or vision
: dull or dimmed especially from fatigue or sleep

More from Merriam-Webster on bleary

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