blip

1 of 2

noun

ˈblip 

1

: a trace on a display screen (such as an oscilloscope)

especially : a spot on a radar screen

2

: a short crisp sound

3

: an interruption of the sound received in a radio or television program or occurring in a recording as a result of blipping

4

: a transient sharp movement up or down (as of a quantity commonly shown on a graph)

5

: something relatively small or inconsequential within a larger context

made only a blip on the political scene

blip

2 of 2

verb

blipped; blipping

transitive verb

: to remove (recorded sound) from a recording so that there is an interruption of the sound in the reproduction

a censor blipped the swear words

Examples of blip in a Sentence

Noun

The approaching ship appeared as a blip on the screen.

the blips, buzzes, and bleeps of a video game

The company's financial problems were just a temporary blip.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Every day, well over a hundred-times Baker’s own population of 422 people blazes by — often at very high speeds, sometimes intoxicated — and the rescuers in this little blip out their windows will be the ones who try to save them in a wreck. —Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 17 May 2024

This wasn’t a blip brought entirely on by the recent act of sabotage either. —Christiaan Hetzner, Fortune Europe, 13 May 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun

imitative

First Known Use

Noun

1945, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1968, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

blip

noun

ˈblip

: a spot on a screen

a radar blip