Word.ws English Dictionary

at first blush

at first blush prepositional phrase: upon first impression or consideration; seemingly, apparently, ostensibly.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (idiomatic) Upon first impression or consideration; seemingly, apparently, ostensibly.
    • The finer and more distinctive features of a land require deep study and long acquaintance, but the broader traits of nationality are caught in an instant, or not caught at all. Familiarity with, destroys them, and it is only at first blush that we learn to appreciate them with force.1843, Charles James Lever, Jack Hinton, the Guardsman
    • At first blush it appears rather strange to consider for even a moment the possibility that corporate financial and business disclosure rises to the dignity of speech protected by the First Amendment.1990, Nicolas Wolfson, Corporate First Amendment: Rights and the Sec, Quorum Books, →ISBN, page 1

Examples of at first blush in a sentence

  • Third, it is only at first blush that one finds no exercises in conceptual elucidation2002, Clarence A. Bonnen, Daniel E. Flage, Descartes and Method: A Search for a Method in Meditations, page 100:
  • At first blush it seemed the attacks by the werewolf were random.2012, Cynthia Garner, Secret of the Wolf, Forever, →ISBN:

Synonyms of at first blush

Forms of at first blush

alternative format the first blush

Origin of at first blush

From an obsolete sense of blush meaning to glance at.

Questions about at first blush

What does at first blush mean?
At first blush means upon first impression or consideration; seemingly, apparently, ostensibly.
How do you use at first blush in a sentence?
Third, it is only at first blush that one finds no exercises in conceptual elucidation
What part of speech is at first blush?
At first blush is a prepositional phrase.

Words near at first blush in the dictionary

  1. at ease
  2. at every turn
  3. at fault
  4. at first
  5. at first bluff
  6. at first blush
  7. at first glance
  8. at first hand
  9. at first sight
  10. at full pelt
  11. at full stretch

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: at first blush (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-at first blush.ogg.

Cite this entry: “at first blush.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/at_first_blush. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.