glimpse
/ˈɡlɪm(p)s/
glimpse verb: to see or view (someone, or something tangible) briefly and incompletely.
Verb
glimpse (third-person singular simple present glimpses, present participle glimpsing, simple past and past participle glimpsed)
- To see or view (someone, or something tangible) briefly and incompletely.
- Morning!—the Vestal Mother of the Sun / Seem'st thou to be, since from thy bosom born, / (Thou that first glimpsest—like a white-stoled nun!—) / He springeth forth—Oh! thou triumphal Morn!— / His race of glory and of joy to run; […]c. 1838 (date written), Emmeline Stuart Wortley, “Sonnet”, in Sonnets, Written Chiefly during a Tour through Holland, Germany, Italy, Turkey, and Hungary, London: Joseph Rickerby, […], published...
- Those wild hills are surely the outpost of a frightful cosmic race—as I doubt all the less since reading that a new ninth planet has been glimpsed beyond Neptune, just as those influences had said it would be glimpsed.1931 August, H[oward] P[hillips] Lovecraft, “The Whisperer in Darkness. Chapter 8.”, in Farnsworth Wright, editor, Weird Tales: A Magazine of the Bizarre and Unusual, volume XVIII, number 1...
- To perceive (something intangible) briefly and incompletely.
- I have only begun to glimpse the magnitude of the problem.
- What memories? / The pure love thoughts and who may know / Thou glimpsest from the long ago?1861, Andrew M‘Ewen, “Avalande, a Romaunt”, in Avalande. Fyttes and Fancyings, London: Charles H. Clarke, […], →OCLC, page 16
- Chiefly followed by at or upon: to look at briefly and incompletely; to glance.
- The door always opens directly into the kitchen, without any vestibule; and, glimpsing in, you see that a cottager's life must be the very plainest and homeliest that ever was lived by men and women.1855 August 12 (date written), Nathaniel Hawthorne, “August 12th. [1855.]”, in Passages from the English Note-books of Nathaniel Hawthorne, volume I, Boston, Mass.: Fields, Osgood, & Co., published...
- To shine with a faint, unsteady light; to glimmer, to shimmer.
- O Lothſome place where I / Haue ſene and herd my dere / When in my hart her eye / Hath made her thought appere / By glimſing with ſuch grace / As fortune it ne would, / That laſten any ſpace, / Betwene vs lenger ſhould.a. 1548 (date written), [Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey], “The Forsaken Louer Describeth and Forsaketh Loue”, in Songes and Sonettes, London: […] Richard Tottel, published 10 August 1557 (Gregorian...
- [O]ur curious yeares can finde / The chriſtal glas, vvhich glimſeth braue & bright, / And ſhevves the thing, much better than it is, / Beguylde vvith foyles, of ſundry ſubtil ſights, / So that they ſeeme, and couet not to be.1576, George Gascoigne, The Steele Glas. A Satyre […], London: […] Henrie Binneman, for Richarde Smith, →OCLC, signature C.j., verso
- To appear or start to appear, especially faintly or unclearly; to dawn.
- Straitvvaies on heapes the thronging cloudes ariſe, / As though the heauen vvere angry vvith the night, / Deformed ſhadovves, glimpſing in his ſight / As darkenes, for it vvould more darkened be, / Through thoſe poore crannies forcde it ſelfe to ſee.1605, Michaell Draiton [i.e., Michael Drayton], “The Fifth Booke of the Barrons Warres”, in Poems: […], London: […] [Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] Ling, →OCLC, stanza 45, page 113
- Sometimes followed by out: to provide a brief and incomplete look.
Noun
glimpse (plural glimpses)
- Chiefly followed by of: a brief and incomplete look.
- I only got a glimpse of the car, so I can tell you the colour but not the registration number.
- [T]he Baſilike, whoſe eyes procure delight to the looker at the firſt glymſe, and death at the ſecond glaunce.1580, Iohn Lyly [i.e., John Lyly], “Neither Thine, nor Hir Owne, Camilla”, in Euphues and His England. […], London: […] [Thomas East] for Gabriell Cawood, […], →OCLC, folio 72, verso
- A brief, sudden flash of light; a glimmer.
- [W]hat may this meane, / That thou, dead corſe, againe in compleate ſteele, / Reuiſſits thus the glimſes of the Moone, / Making night hideous, and vve fooles of nature, / So horridely to ſhake our diſpoſition, / VVith thoughts beyond the reaches of our ſoules?c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shake-speare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and Iohn Trundell...
- Sunk in his [Despair's] skull, his ſtaring eyes did glovve, / That made him deadly looke, their glimpſe did ſhovve / Like Cockatrices eyes, that ſparks of poyſon throvve.1610, G[iles] Fletcher, “Christs Victorie on Earth”, in Christs Victorie, and Triumph in Heauen, and Earth, ouer, and after Death, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] C. Legge, →OCLC, stanza 25, page 33
- A faint or imprecise idea; an inkling.
- Every surmise and vaticination of the mind is entitled to a certain respect, and we learn to prefer imperfect theories, and sentences, which contain glimpses of truth, to digested systems which have no one valuable suggestion.1836, [Ralph Waldo Emerson], “Prospects”, in Nature, Boston, Mass.: James Munroe and Company, →OCLC, page 86
- Let there be thistles, there are grapes; / If old things, there are new; / Ten thousand broken lights and shapes, / Yet glimpses of the true.1842, Alfred Tennyson, “Will Waterproof’s Lyrical Monologue”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 185
- A brief, unspecified amount of time; a moment.
- […] Alwin smiled, / When aught that from his young lips archly fell / The gloomy film from Harold's eye beguiled; / And pleased for a glimpse appeared the woeful Childe.1809–1818 (date written), Lord Byron, “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Canto the First.”, in Thomas Moore, editor, The Works of Lord Byron: […], volume VIII, London: John Murray, […], published 1832...
- Synonyms:
- bat of an eye, bit, blink of an eye, crack, eyeblink, flash, half a mo, instant, jiff, jiffy
- A faint (and often temporary) appearance; a tinge.
- Reuiued with a glimſe of grace old ſorowes to let fal, / The hidden ſtraines I know and ſecret ſnares of loue: / How ſoone a loke wil print a thought, that neuer may remoue.a. 1548 (date written), [Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey], “Description of the Fickle Affections, Panges, and Sleightes of Loue”, in Songes and Sonettes, London: […] Richard Tottel, published 10 August...
- [T]here is no man hath a vertue, that he hath not a glimpſe of, nor any mã [man] an attaint, but he carries ſome ſtain of it.c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid. […] (First Quarto), London: […] G[eorge] Eld for R[ichard] Bonian and H[enry] Walley, […], published 1609...
glimpse meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
glimpse in Hindi
- a glimpse, view
- झाँकी jhā̃kī
glimpse in Tamil
- கண்ணோட்டம், பார்வை
glimpse in Marathi
- एक झलक
glimpse in Urdu
- ہلکی سی جھلک, جھپکی, پرتو, ہلکی سی جھلک دکھنا, ہلکی سی جھلک دیکھنا
More languagesFewer languages
- glimpse in Bengali
- ক্ষণিক দৃষ্টি, অল্প সময়ের জন্য দেখা, এক পলক দেখা
- glimpse in Telugu
- ఒక సంగ్రహావలోకనం, సంగ్రహావలోకనం
- glimpse in Malayalam
- മിന്നൊളി, അചിരദർശനം, ഒരുനോക്ക്, ക്ഷണികദൃശ്യം
- glimpse in Kannada
- ಕ್ಷಣಿಕ ದರ್ಶನ, ಅಪೂರ್ಣ ದರ್ಶನ, ಮಿನುಗು ನೋಟ, ಮಿಂಚು ನೋಟ
- glimpse in Punjabi
- ਇੱਕ ਝਲਕ, ਇਕ ਝਲਕ
- glimpse in Gujarati
- એક ઝલક
- glimpse in Odia
- ଏକ ଝଲକ, ଝଲକ
- glimpse in Nepali
- एक झलक, एउटा झलक
- glimpse in Persian
- لمز lamz
- glimpse in Thai
- เหลือบ lʉ̀ʉap
Examples of glimpse in a sentence
- The illumined portholes that Eveline [in Eveline (1904) by James Joyce] glimpses mean that the night is drawing in, that the ship will be sailing into the dark.2008, David Pierce, “Saying Goodbye in ‘Eveline’: Emigration · The Language of ‘Eveline’”, in Reading Joyce, Abingdon, Oxfordshire; New...
- I seem to glimpse something of this familiar weakness in Mr. [Gilbert] White.1871, James Russell Lowell, “My Garden Acquaintance”, in My Study Windows, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: James R[ipley] Osgood and...
- A hope that, glimpsed, must fade; / A form, illusion made, / That, vanishing, shall come no more again!1912 November, Florence Earle Coates, “Cendrillon”, in The Unconquered Air and Other Poems, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin...
- To glimpse the actual woman behind these texts in any kind of full and adequate way is impossible.2000 June 17, Elizabeth A. Johnson, “Mary of Nazareth: Friend of God and Prophet”, in America, volume 182, number 21:
Synonyms of glimpse
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of glimpse
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | glimpses |
| present participle | glimpsing |
| past participle | glimpsed |
| past | glimpsed |
| alternative form | glinse |
| alternative form | glympse |
| alternative form | glymse |
| second-person singular present (archaic) | glimpsest |
| second-person singular past (archaic) | glimpsedst |
| third-person singular present (archaic) | glimpseth |
| Noun | |
| plural | glimpses |
| alternative form | glimse |
Origin of glimpse
The verb is derived from earlier glimse (obsolete), from Middle English glimsen (“to dazzle; to glisten; to glance with the eyes”), possibly from Old English *glimsian, from Proto-West Germanic *glimmisōjan, from Proto-Germanic *glimō, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰley- (“to shine”). Doublet of glimmer. The noun is derived from the verb. Cognates Dutch glimp (“glimpse”, noun) Middle Dutch glinsen (modern Dutch glinsteren (“to glint, glitter, shimmer, sparkle; to glance”), glimmen (“to gleam, shine”)) Middle High German glimsen (“to glow, smoulder”), glinsen (“to glimmer, shine”) Middle Low German glinsen, glintzen, glinzen (“to shimmer, shine”)
Words formed from glimpse
Words that rhyme with glimpse
1 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about glimpse
- What does glimpse mean?
- Glimpse means to see or view (someone, or something tangible) briefly and incompletely.
- What is glimpse in Hindi?
- Glimpse in Hindi is झाँकी (jhā̃kī). See Glimpse meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use glimpse in a sentence?
- The illumined portholes that Eveline [in Eveline (1904) by James Joyce] glimpses mean that the night is drawing in, that the ship will be sailing into the dark.
- What part of speech is glimpse?
- Glimpse can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce glimpse?
- Glimpse is pronounced /ˈɡlɪm(p)s/.
- What is the past tense of glimpse?
- The past tense of glimpse is glimpsed.
Words near glimpse in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: glimpse (page history and authors); झाँकी (Hindi) (page history and authors); glimpse (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); glimpse (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); glimpse (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Glimpse (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); glimpse (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); glimpse (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); glimpse (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); glimpse (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); glimpse (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); glimpse (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); glimpse (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-glimpse.ogg.
Cite this entry: “glimpse.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/glimpse. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.