glimpse
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To see or view briefly and incompletely.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
glimpsIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɡlɪmps
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 see or view (someone, or something tangible) briefly and incompletely.
transitivefigurative
To perceive (something intangible) briefly and incompletely.
intransitive
Chiefly followed by at or upon: to look at briefly and incompletely; to glance.
Catch a glimpse of or see briefly
“We glimpsed the Queen as she got into her limousine.”
intransitive
To shine with a faint, unsteady light; to glimmer, to shimmer.
noun
Chiefly followed by of: a brief and incomplete look.
figurative
A faint or imprecise idea; an inkling.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To see or view (someone, or something tangible) briefly and incompletely.
Used this way, glimpse 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 glimpse
- “We glimpsed the Queen as she got into her limousine.”verb
- “From the window he could catch a glimpse of the lake.”noun
- “He caught only a glimpse of the professor's meaning.”noun
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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.
See something for a brief time.
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.