leered; leering; leers
: to cast a sidelong glance
especially
: to give a leer
Some female employees complained that they were being leered at by male employees.
: a lascivious, knowing, or wanton look
Examples of leer in a Sentence
Verb
She complained that some disgusting man was leering at her.
He gave her a leering look.
Recent Examples on the Web
Rebecca Jennings, Vulture, 30 Sep. 2025
Wandering among the half naked nymphs and leering wolves and buff mermen poking their lovely wet heads out of glassy forest pools, their eyes dark with wanting to drag her down to oblivion.
—Literary Hub, 24 Sep. 2025
Victoria Edel, PEOPLE, 1 Oct. 2025
Some of the same faces are AI replicated more than once in the same scene and sport strange zombie-like staring leers or appear out of scale with other surrounding character identities.
—Philip Potempa, Chicago Tribune, 29 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for leer
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Verb
The debates will often put him up against college women, who are often used as little more than window dressing to be both leered and laughed at, as opposed to, say, a gender-studies professor or career pundit.
—Rebecca Jennings, Vulture, 30 Sep. 2025
Wandering among the half naked nymphs and leering wolves and buff mermen poking their lovely wet heads out of glassy forest pools, their eyes dark with wanting to drag her down to oblivion.
—Literary Hub, 24 Sep. 2025
Noun
In the scene, the men leer at Caroline and touch her face.
—Victoria Edel, PEOPLE, 1 Oct. 2025
Some of the same faces are AI replicated more than once in the same scene and sport strange zombie-like staring leers or appear out of scale with other surrounding character identities.
—Philip Potempa, Chicago Tribune, 29 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for leer
Cite this Entry
“Leer.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/leer. Accessed 3 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share