GLIMPSE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does glimpse mean? 

• GLIMPSE (noun)
  The noun GLIMPSE has 3 senses:

1. a quick look

2. a brief or incomplete view

3. a vague indication

  Familiarity information: GLIMPSE used as a noun is uncommon.

• GLIMPSE (verb)
  The verb GLIMPSE has 1 sense:

1. catch a glimpse of or see briefly

  Familiarity information: GLIMPSE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GLIMPSE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A quick look

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

coup d'oeil; glance; glimpse

Hypernyms ("glimpse" is a kind of...):

look; looking; looking at (the act of directing the eyes toward something and perceiving it visually)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "glimpse"):

eye-beaming (a radiant glance of the eye)

side-glance; side-look (a glance sideways)

Derivation:

glimpse (catch a glimpse of or see briefly)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A brief or incomplete view

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Context example:

from the window he could catch a glimpse of the lake

Hypernyms ("glimpse" is a kind of...):

aspect; panorama; prospect; scene; view; vista (the visual percept of a region)

Derivation:

glimpse (catch a glimpse of or see briefly)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A vague indication

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Context example:

he caught only a glimpse of the professor's meaning

Hypernyms ("glimpse" is a kind of...):

indicant; indication (something that serves to indicate or suggest)

• GLIMPSE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they glimpse    ... he / she / it glimpses   
Past simple: glimpsed   
Past participle: glimpsed   
-ing form: glimpsing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Catch a glimpse of or see briefly

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Context example:

We glimpsed the Queen as she got into her limousine

Hypernyms (to "glimpse" is one way to...):

see (perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

glimpse (a quick look)

glimpse (a brief or incomplete view)

 Context examples 

I was horrified by my first glimpse of Holmes next morning, for he sat by the fire holding his tiny hypodermic syringe.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

As such, planetary nebulas allow us a glimpse into the future of our own solar system.

(Hubble Views Final Stages of a Star’s Life, ESA/NASA)

It was his first glimpse of mankind.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Again, I catch rare glimpses of my mother, moving her lips timidly between the two, with one of them muttering at each ear like low thunder.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

"But you forget," she interrupted, the quick surface of her mind glimpsing a parallel.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

“Just wait till he gets a glimpse iv yer mugs to-morrow, the gang iv ye,” he chuckled.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

This has provided astronomers with a clear glimpse of how stars go from a sometimes-turbulent adolescence into calmer adulthood.

(Spitzer Studies a Stellar Playground With a Long History, NASA)

Those images will include the highest-resolution views of the Jovian atmosphere and the first glimpse of Jupiter's north and south poles.

(Juno Successfully Completes Jupiter Flyby, NASA)

For a moment I had a glimpse of the human spirits behind their scientific masks.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The new study reports the first glimpses of a northern polar vortex forming high in the atmosphere, as Saturn's northern hemisphere approached summertime.

(Saturn's Famous Hexagon May Tower Above the Clouds, NASA)