Did you know?
There’s a glitch in the etymology of glitch—it may come from the Yiddish glitsh, meaning “slippery place,” but that’s not certain. Print use of glitch referring to a brief unexpected surge of electrical current dates to the mid-20th century. Astronaut John Glenn, in his 1962 book Into Orbit, felt the need to explain the term to his readers: “Literally, a glitch is a spike or change in voltage in an electrical circuit which takes place when the circuit suddenly has a new load put on it.” Today, the word can be used of any minor malfunction or snag. If you’re a gamer you might even take advantage of a glitch that causes something unexpected, and sometimes beneficial, to happen in the game.
Examples of glitch in a Sentence
Zachary Folk, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2025
At worst, there were glitches owed to habit.
—Christopher Bonanos, Curbed, 5 Sep. 2025
The cause of a recent technical glitch that kept dozens of law enforcement agencies across the East Bay from hiding their radio communications from the public remains a mystery, authorities said Friday morning.
—Jakob Rodgers, Mercury News, 5 Sep. 2025
Google has yet to respond to further questions on the nature of the apparent glitch, which has wiped out COVID vaccine information in Maps while continuing to return results for other medical services and immunizations.
—Ryan Whitwam, ArsTechnica, 4 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for glitch
Cite this Entry
“Glitch.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/glitch. Accessed 12 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
glitch
noun
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