Word.ws English Dictionary

glimpses

glimpses is the plural of glimpse.

glimpses is the third-person singular simple present indicative of glimpse.

Meaning of glimpse

Noun

glimpse (plural glimpses)

  1. 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.
    Synonyms:
    glance, peek, gander
  2. (archaic) 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...
  3. (figuratively) 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
  4. (figuratively, rare) 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...
  5. (obsolete) 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...
    Synonyms:
    glimmer, hint, trace

See all 11 meanings of glimpse

Questions about glimpses

What is glimpses the plural of?
Glimpses is the plural of glimpse.

Words near glimpses in the dictionary

  1. glimpseable
  2. glimpsed
  3. glimpselike
  4. glimpser
  5. glimpsers
  6. glimpses
  7. glimpsest
  8. glimpseth
  9. glimpsing
  10. glims
  11. Glina

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: glimpses (page history and authors); glimpse (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.

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