glance
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To cause to gleam or sparkle.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
glansIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɡlæns
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
transitive
To cause (light) to gleam or sparkle.
transitive
To turn (one's eyes or look) at something, often briefly.
transitivealso figuratively
To cause (something) to move obliquely.
Hit at an angle
transitivefiguratively
To communicate (something) using the eyes.
intransitivealso figuratively
To strike and fly off in an oblique direction; to dart aside.
noun
A quick look
also figuratively
A brief or cursory look.
also figuratively
A quick movement that catches light, and causes a flash or glitter; also, the flash or glitter.
cricket
A stroke in which the ball is hit with a bat held in a slanted manner.
ichthyology
Of certain juvenile fish, chiefly of the Cichlidae family: an act of rapidly touching the side of its parent's body, usually to feed on mucus.
Any hard, lustrous coal such as anthracite.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To turn (one's eyes or look) at something, often briefly.
Used this way, glance is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use glance
- “She only glanced at the paper.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Examine hastily.
On first seeing (someone or something).
A heavy grey mineral that is an ore of copper.
A glance sideways.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.