blip

1 of 2

noun

ˈblip 

1

: a trace on a display screen (such as an oscilloscope)

especially : a spot on a radar screen

2

: a short crisp sound

3

: an interruption of the sound received in a radio or television program or occurring in a recording as a result of blipping

4

: a transient sharp movement up or down (as of a quantity commonly shown on a graph)

5

: something relatively small or inconsequential within a larger context

made only a blip on the political scene

blip

2 of 2

verb

blipped; blipping

transitive verb

: to remove (recorded sound) from a recording so that there is an interruption of the sound in the reproduction

a censor blipped the swear words

Examples of blip in a Sentence

Noun

The approaching ship appeared as a blip on the screen.

the blips, buzzes, and bleeps of a video game

The company's financial problems were just a temporary blip.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

The drive-by-wire software even allows for an auto blip function, but where’s the fun in that? —Michael Teo Van Runkle, Forbes.com, 23 Apr. 2025

But, in Pereira’s eyes, the main reason for the blip was the distraction of the window. —Steve Madeley, New York Times, 21 Apr. 2025

Verb

Luckily, Nan finds the correct disk just in time to save the crew from getting blipped from existence, and Walton gets the fatal-content-error screen that indicates the game has been deleted from the server entirely. —Ben Rosenstock, Vulture, 11 Apr. 2025

The radar blips were satellites; the alert was a false alarm. —Daniel A. Gross, The New Yorker, 17 Jan. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun

imitative

First Known Use

Noun

1945, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1968, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for blip

• chip
• clip
• dip
• drip
• flip
• grip
• grippe
• hip
• ip
• kip
• lip
• nip

Kids Definition

blip

noun

ˈblip

: a spot on a screen

a radar blip