squint

1 of 3

adjective

ˈskwint 

1

of an eye : looking or tending to look obliquely or askance (as with envy or disdain)

2

of the eyes : not having the visual axes parallel : crossed

squint

2 of 3

verb

squinted; squinting; squints

intransitive verb

1

a

: to have an indirect bearing, reference, or aim

b

: to deviate from a true line

2

a

: to look in a squint-eyed manner

b

: to be cross-eyed

c

: to look or peer with eyes partly closed

transitive verb

: to cause (an eye) to squint

squinter noun

squintingly

ˈskwin-tiŋ-lē 

adverb

squint

3 of 3

noun

1

: strabismus

2

: an instance of squinting

3

: hagioscope

squinty

ˈskwin-tē 

adjective

Examples of squint in a Sentence

Verb

She had to squint to read the small print.

He squinted through the haze of smoke.

I had to squint my eyes to focus on the tiny letters.

I noticed that he squints.

Noun

Her gaze narrowed into a squint.

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

Armed with a little knowledge about how their face corresponds to frames, men can make the choice that leaves them looking and feeling their best—without squinting. —Eric Twardzik, Robb Report, 23 Aug. 2023

There’s still enough light outside to make everyone look nice and bright, but no glaring sun to squint at. —Fox News, 26 July 2023

In other words, Voisin also doesn’t have to squint too hard to see a little of himself in Pritchett. —Creg Stephenson | [e-mail], al, 11 Aug. 2023

But after squinting at lots of tiny scatter plots, nothing jumped out. —Irena Hwang, ProPublica, 8 Aug. 2023

Renata Schmitt, clad in leggings and sneakers, long hair pulled back from her face, squinted at the two ropes that arced toward and away from each other in an eggbeater pattern, blurring through the air of a gym in Southeast D.C. Schmitt, 52, of Arlington, waited, watched, then jumped in. —Tara Bahrampour, Washington Post, 26 July 2023

Otherwise, Wilson kept moving, holding the camera at clavicle height and squinting into the viewfinder. —Andrew Marantz, The New Yorker, 17 July 2023

Sick of squinting or losing track of your reading glasses? —Sarah Felbin, Health, 10 July 2023

Key was aboard a ship in the harbor and squinted through smoke to see who had won, as the sun began to break. —Christina Ruffini, CBS News, 4 July 2023

Noun

My six-year-old nephew, after sampling water from Australia with a TDS of 1,300, squints at me. —Krista Stevens, Longreads, 5 July 2023

His eyes narrow into the slightest squint. —BostonGlobe.com, 24 Mar. 2021

Take a good squint. —Alex Hutchinson, Outside Online, 2 Aug. 2020

Broadhorn was another name for a flatboat — square of bow, shallow of draft and requiring little in the way of construction expertise — because the long, curved steering oars were wielded from atop the cabin and appeared like giant horns at a squint. —Ben McGrath, New York Times, 26 Aug. 2022

Syl with his aggro hunchback squint, and the rest. —Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 21 Sep. 2021

The resemblance — from the squint to the lopsided smile — is striking. —Alex Apatoff, Peoplemag, 21 Feb. 2023

Childres, who has a slight and somewhat owlish figure, and the squint of a medieval illuminator, had recently completed a Ph.D. in physics at Purdue University. —Sean Michaels, The New Yorker, 28 Nov. 2022

But following along is still enjoyable enough, right down to Benoit Blanc’s last sardonic squint. —Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 22 Nov. 2022

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Word History

Etymology

Adjective

probably aphetic form of earlier a squint, going back to Middle English a squynt, in the phrase beholden (loken) a squynt "to be cross-eyed, look obliquely," from a- a- entry 1 + squynt, of uncertain origin

Note: Middle English a squynt, asquint has been compared with Dutch schuin "aslant, slantingly, askew" (unknown in Middle Dutch, first attested as schuyn "transversus, obliquus" in the Dutch-Latin dictionary of Cornelis Kiliaan, 1599), though the nature of the relationship is unclear. (Dutch schuin is paralleled by Gronings [West Low German] schuun, Low German schün, hypothetically from Germanic *skeuni-.) The form asquint is attested early, already in the Ancrene Wisse (as an addition in one manuscript, British Library Cotton Nero A.14, mid-13th century), but if a putative early Middle Dutch [sχy:n], prior to the development of the diphthong, is the source, -squint seems an unlikely outcome. Variants without t (of skwyn "on a slant," askoyn, ascoign "askance") may have a more direct relationship to Dutch schuin.

Verb

derivative of squint entry 1

Noun

derivative of squint entry 2

First Known Use

Adjective

1579, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1599, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1a

Noun

circa 1652, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing squint

• squint-eyed

• squint-eyed

Kids Definition

squint

1 of 2 verb

ˈskwint 

1

a

: to look with a side glance (as in jealousy or disdain)

b

: to be cross-eyed

2

: to look or peer with eyes partly closed

squinter noun

squint

2 of 2 noun

1

: inability to direct both eyes to the same object due to a fault of the muscles of the eyeball

2

: the act or an instance of squinting

squinty

ˈskwint-ē

adjective

Medical Definition

squint

1 of 2 intransitive verb

ˈskwint 

1

: to be cross-eyed

2

: to look or peer with eyes partly closed

squint

2 of 2 noun

1

: strabismus

2

: an instance or habit of squinting