Word.ws English Dictionary

point-blank

point-blank adjective: very close; not touching but not more than a few metres (yards).

Adjective

point-blank (not comparable)

  1. (forensics) Very close; not touching but not more than a few metres (yards).
  2. The distance between a firearm and a target where a projectile in flight is expected to strike the centre of the target without adjusting the elevation of the firearm.
    • Now, here's a useful tool—.470, telescopic sight, double ejector, point-blank up to three-fifty. That's the rifle I used against the Peruvian slave-drivers three years ago.1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, “‘I was the Flail of the Lord’”, in The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC
    • Heavily armed militants launched a series of coordinated attacks in rural Assam on Tuesday, pulling villagers from their homes and shooting them at point-blank range, witnesses said.2014 December 24, “Assam rebels kill scores on night of brutal attacks in Indian state”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC
  3. Disconcertingly straightforward or blunt; outright.
    • a point-blank assertion
    • At this point-blank denial, Stephen turned his face away decisively, and preserved an ominous silence; […]1872 September – 1873 July, Thomas Hardy, “‘VII’”, in A Pair of Blue Eyes. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Tinsley Brothers, […], published 1873, →OCLC

Adverb

point-blank (not comparable)

  1. In a direct manner, without hesitation.
    • One day, when he was doing some valuation for me, he told me point-blank that clergymen seldom understood anything about business, and did mischief when they meddled; […]1871–1872, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XXXVIII, in Middlemarch […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book (please...
    • About a week afterwards she said to him, point-blank, "Are you seriously making love to your little cousin?"1878 July–October, Henry James, Jr., chapter II, in The Europeans. A Sketch. […], volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., published 1878, →OCLC, page 81

point-blank meaning in Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada

point-blank in Tamil

நேருக்கு நேராக, மிக எதிராக

point-blank in Malayalam

നേരേ ഉന്നംവച്ച, നേരേയുള്ള, ഋജുവായ

point-blank in Kannada

ನೇರವಾಗಿ, ನೆಟ್ಟಗೆ, ಎದುರೆದುರಿನ, ಅತಿ ಸಮೀಪದಲ್ಲಿ ಹಾರಿಸಿದ, ಗುರಿಗೆ ನೇರವಾಗಿ ತುಂಬ ಹತ್ತಿರದ, ನೇರವಾದ

Examples of point-blank in a sentence

  • Fifteen of those people had died of natural causes, the rest from gunshot wounds, including point-blank shots, or from shrapnel.2022 April 3, Carlotta Gall, Andrew E. Kramer, “In a Kyiv suburb,‘they shot everyone they saw’”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The...
  • Yes, but surliness might have provoked a point-blank question.1910 August-September, Joseph Conrad, chapter II, in The Secret Sharer, Harper's Magazine:
  • My father addressed himself to the gentleman point-blank, and there was quite a disturbance.1891, Thomas Hardy, chapter XXVII, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume (please specify |volume=I to...
  • He was getting on well, so I understood, and had secured a fairly substantial position, and I had therefore ventured to ask him point-blank for the loan of fifty pounds.1895, Marie Corelli, The Sorrows of Satan: or The Strange Experience of One Geoffrey Tempest, Millionaire […], 1st American edition, New...

Forms of point-blank

alternative formpoint blank
alternative formpointblank

Origin of point-blank

From French point blanc (“white point”), originally referring to the white spot to be aimed at on a target (see blank's "bull's eye") or alternatively into empty space being fired horizontally.

Questions about point-blank

What does point-blank mean?
Point-blank means very close; not touching but not more than a few metres (yards).
What is point-blank in Tamil?
Point-blank in Tamil is நேருக்கு நேராக, மிக எதிராக. See Point-blank meaning in Tamil.
How do you use point-blank in a sentence?
Fifteen of those people had died of natural causes, the rest from gunshot wounds, including point-blank shots, or from shrapnel.
What part of speech is point-blank?
Point-blank can be an adjective or an adverb.

Words near point-blank in the dictionary

  1. point-and-shoot
  2. point-and-shoot camera
  3. point-and-shoot cameras
  4. point-and-shooter
  5. point-and-shooters
  6. point-blank
  7. point-device
  8. point-devise
  9. point-free
  10. point-in-line
  11. point-in-lines

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: point-blank (page history and authors); point-blank (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); point-blank (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); point-blank (Kannada Wiktionary) (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Neøn-point-blank.wav.

Cite this entry: “point-blank.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/point-blank. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.