BLUR (blurred, blurring)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: blurred    , blurring   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does blur mean? 

• BLUR (noun)
  The noun BLUR has 1 sense:

1. a hazy or indistinct representation

  Familiarity information: BLUR used as a noun is very rare.

• BLUR (verb)
  The verb BLUR has 6 senses:

1. become glassy; lose clear vision

2. to make less distinct or clear

3. make unclear, indistinct, or blurred

4. make a smudge on; soil by smudging

5. make dim or indistinct

6. become vague or indistinct

  Familiarity information: BLUR used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BLUR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A hazy or indistinct representation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

blur; fuzz

Context example:

he tried to clear his head of the whisky fuzz

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

internal representation; mental representation; representation (a presentation to the mind in the form of an idea or image)

Derivation:

blur (become vague or indistinct)

blur (make dim or indistinct)

blur (become glassy; lose clear vision)

blur (to make less distinct or clear)

blurry (indistinct or hazy in outline)

• BLUR (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they blur    ... he / she / it blurs   
Past simple: blurred   
Past participle: blurred   
-ing form: blurring   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Become glassy; lose clear vision

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

blur; film over; glaze over

Context example:

Her eyes glazed over from lack of sleep

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

blur (a hazy or indistinct representation)

Sense 2

Meaning:

To make less distinct or clear

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Context example:

The haze blurs the hills

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

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Antonym:

focus (cause to converge on or toward a central point)

Derivation:

blur (a hazy or indistinct representation)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make unclear, indistinct, or blurred

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

blur; confuse; obnubilate; obscure

Context example:

Their words obnubilate their intentions

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

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Verb group:

confound; confuse (mistake one thing for another)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "blur"):

muddy (cause to become muddy)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Make a smudge on; soil by smudging

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

blur; smear; smudge; smutch

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

rub (move over something with pressure)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "blur"):

resmudge (smudge again)

dust (rub the dust over a surface so as to blur the outlines of a shape)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 5

Meaning:

Make dim or indistinct

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

blear; blur

Context example:

The fog blurs my vision

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

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Cause:

blur; dim; slur (become vague or indistinct)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Antonym:

focus (put (an image) into focus)

Derivation:

blur (a hazy or indistinct representation)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Become vague or indistinct

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

blur; dim; slur

Context example:

The distinction between the two theories blurred

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

weaken (become weaker)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "blur"):

efface; obliterate (remove completely from recognition or memory)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Antonym:

focus (become focussed or come into focus)

Derivation:

blur (a hazy or indistinct representation)

 Context examples 

The name caught her eye and the blurred look of the lines made her sure that tears had fallen on it.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Clinical signs include dizziness, headache, vomiting, hemiparesis or hemiplegia, dysarthria, dysphagia, blurred vision and loss of consciousness.

(Basilar Artery Syndrome, NCI Thesaurus)

Other symptoms include headaches, abdominal and back pain, and blurred vision.

(Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome, NCI Thesaurus)

Blurred vision is a common early symptom.

(Macular Degeneration, NIH: National Eye Institute)

The result was an extreme blurring and stretching of the X-ray light.

(NuSTAR sees rare blurring of black hole light, NASA)

The team combined high-resolution spectroscopy with a technique known as adaptive optics, which corrected the blurring effect of Earth’s atmosphere.

(Water Found in Planet 120 Light Years Away, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAMA) Somatic (sensory); tinnitus, blurring of vision, hot and cold flushes, feelings of weakness, pricking sensation.

(HAMA - Somatic (Sensory), NCI Thesaurus)

Symptoms include double or blurred vision, drooping eyelids, slurred speech, difficulty swallowing, dry mouth, and muscle weakness.

(Botulism, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

This reaction includes , but is not limited to, flushing, headache, respiratory difficulty, nausea,vomiting, sweating, thirst, chest pain, tachycardia, blurred vision and hypotension.

(Disulfiram, NCI Thesaurus)

An edge artifact that results in image blurring.

(Edge Smearing Artifact, NCI Thesaurus)