as in peered
to take a look with the eyes narrowed (as because of difficulty seeing)
He squinted in her direction, but couldn't make her out with the sun behind her.
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Recent Examples of squinted
Giles cranked the boat back around, leaned out from behind the steering wheel and squinted past a bright glare on the water.
—
Kelso Harper, Scientific American, 16 Dec. 2025
Amid the eucalyptus groves at Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz, local bug enthusiast Sasha Hernandez squinted through the draping green leaves, searching for flashes of black and orange — the wings of migratory monarch butterflies traveling from west of the Rocky Mountains.
—Olivia Maule, Mercury News, 6 Dec. 2025
The page squinted up at the nightingale, her dull feathers and stippled breast.
—Hazlitt, 19 Nov. 2025
The Babycatcher looked up at the sky and squinted.
—Literary Hub, 16 Oct. 2025
Kelso Harper, Scientific American, 16 Dec. 2025
Amid the eucalyptus groves at Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz, local bug enthusiast Sasha Hernandez squinted through the draping green leaves, searching for flashes of black and orange — the wings of migratory monarch butterflies traveling from west of the Rocky Mountains.
—Olivia Maule, Mercury News, 6 Dec. 2025
The page squinted up at the nightingale, her dull feathers and stippled breast.
—Hazlitt, 19 Nov. 2025
The Babycatcher looked up at the sky and squinted.
—Literary Hub, 16 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for squinted
Verb
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On one of the final days of the semester, Raymundo peered into his Infiniti J30’s engine bay, searching for the issue that had troubled the car.—
Daniel Miller,
Los Angeles Times,
6 Jan. 2026
-
Teigen shared other clips in the carousel post of her family vacation, including a shot of herself walking along the beach with her daughter Esti and her posing on a boat in a plunging black swimsuit as Luna and Miles, seen in life jackets standing behind her, peered over the boat’s edge.—
Escher Walcott,
PEOPLE,
5 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Texas basketball coach Sean Miller glanced over the stat sheet after Saturday’s 74-70 home loss to rival Texas A&M with a grimace before stating the obvious.—
Thomas Jones,
Austin American Statesman,
21 Jan. 2026
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Then the star guard’s eyes glanced at Drew Timme’s T-shirt.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
20 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Fans filed by and stared at this white man talking to these two Black people.—
Assistant Sports Editor,
Los Angeles Times,
22 Jan. 2026
-
Braddy intently stared at Rifkin during opening arguments.—
Grethel Aguila,
Miami Herald,
20 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
The Horns blinked for four minutes.—
Cedric Golden,
Austin American Statesman,
18 Jan. 2026
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Furbys — fuzzy creatures that blinked their large eyes and talked — came along in the ’90s, when digital pets, Tamagotchi, also were all the rage.—
Queenie Wong,
Chicago Tribune,
1 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Squinted.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/squinted. Accessed 28 Jan. 2026.
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