\ ˈblip 
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\Definition of blip
(Entry 1 of 2)
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
verbblipped; blipping
Definition of blip (Entry 2 of 2)
: 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.
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Recent Examples on the Web: Noun Most but not all Januaries bring a brief upward blip in temperature, before the Mother Lode of arctic air rushes south later in the month.
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Todd Nelson, Star Tribune, "Warm Week Followed By Colder Temps," 10 Jan. 2021 For many enterprising chefs, offering meals for four to go became a welcome income blip and a relief to beleaguered families dealing with working and schooling at home.
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Beth D'addono, NOLA.com, "New Orleans bars and restaurants react to a rugged 2020," 28 Dec. 2020 Now, researchers are pondering whether the relative spike in deaths is a blip or a sign of deeper problems on roadways—the kind that demand attention from law- and policymakers.
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Aarian Marshall, Wired, "The Year of Driving Less—but More Dangerously," 24 Dec. 2020 There was a blip of Y2K anxiety, but as doomsday was diverted fashion continued on its merry way into the new millennium until September 11, 2001.
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Laird Borrelli-persson, Vogue, "Episode 13 of In Vogue: The 1990s Brings Us to the End of an Era," 15 Dec. 2020 The challenge now for the GOP is building on this blip of momentum.
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Joe Garofoli, SFChronicle.com, "California Republicans have a pulse — and see a way to more victories," 7 Dec. 2020 Mexico reported 12,127 new coronavirus infections on Friday, a record number for a single day rise, barring one day in October the government has said was due to a statistical blip.
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NBC News, "'No presents': Mexicans urged to be cautious this Christmas to stop pandemic," 5 Dec. 2020 But still there is something to be learned from that blip and from Washington’s reflexively heavy-handed attitude toward it.
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Andrew Stuttaford, National Review, "The Capital Letter: Week of October 19," 23 Oct. 2020 Scientists used to eyeball the region that a blip on a measurement tool was coming from, but as modern experiments collect an increasing amount of data, a digital tool for pinpointing a signal’s source became vital, Ng says in a statement.
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Theresa Machemer, Smithsonian Magazine, "Researchers Created a 3-D Map of 100 Million Cells in the Mouse Brain," 13 May 2020 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb And as independent filmmakers blipped off the map, acting roles for women became few and far between, while producing and directing roles all but disappeared.
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Katherine J. Wu, Smithsonian Magazine, "Hollywood’s ‘Golden Age’ Saw Massive Dip in Female Film Representation," 3 Apr. 2020 Instead of the Britpop of his long-running band Pulp, Cocker (now billing himself as Jarv Is) surrounds himself with hazy keyboards and blipping sequencers; a four-on-the-floor beat sometimes surfaces only to disappear under mournful chords.
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Jon Pareles, New York Times, "Dixie Chicks’ Fiery Return, and 10 More New Songs," 6 Mar. 2020 Excluding defense, durable goods orders blipped up just 0.1%.
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Washington Post, "US durable goods orders rebound in October, rising 0.6%," 27 Nov. 2019 My phones have been buzzing and vibrating, blipping and chirping since the news was confirmed that Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash Sunday in Southern California at the age of 41.
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Greg Moore, azcentral, "Kobe Bryant's death hits Xennial generation, who grew up with him," 26 Jan. 2020 And utilizing the paddle shifters delivers a pleasingly raucous note — blipping the throttle during downshifts — when set in the Sport+ setting of the Drive Mode Select knob.
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Arv Voss, Houston Chronicle, "2020 Lexus LC 500h: Hybrid Grand Touring Coupe based on the GA-L platform architecture," 13 Dec. 2019 But during the last stretch of descent on September 7, just a mile above the lunar surface, the probe blipped out of radio contact.
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Katherine J. Wu, Smithsonian, "Amateur Astronomer Locates India’s Moon Lander Crash Site," 5 Dec. 2019 The first data ever transmitted over Arpanet, the precursor of the internet, blipped from a computer at the University of California, Los Angeles to one at the Stanford Research Institute in Palo Alto on Oct. 29, 1969.
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Quanta Magazine, "To Invent a Quantum Internet," 1 Oct. 2019 Peter’s new romantic rival, Brad Davis (Remy Hii), was still a lame tween when his current classmates blipped away.
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Sonia Rao, Washington Post, "‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’ explains why Peter Parker and his friends are still in high school 5 years later," 3 July 2019
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'blip.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for blip
blip
nounEnglish Language Learners Definition of blip
: a bright dot on the screen of an electronic device (such as a radar)
: a very short high sound made by an electronic device
: something that is small or unimportant or that does not last a long time
See the full definition for blip in the English Language Learners Dictionary
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Time Traveler for blip
The first known use of blip was in 1945
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