winking 1 of 2

winking

2 of 2

verb

present participle of wink
1
as in squinting
to rapidly open and close one's eyes she winked several times to get the dust and grit out of her eyes

Synonyms & Similar Words

2
3
4
as in ignoring
to secretly sympathize with or pretend ignorance of something improper or unlawful the whole sporting world seems to wink as untold sums are bet on the outcome of the Super Bowl

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Examples Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of winking
Verb
No one is winking or making fun, despite the fact that this father and son are extolling the beauty of the morning while inside a sunless bunker six miles underground. Tim Greiving, Los Angeles Times, 5 Dec. 2024 Whatever the noble title, Cronenberg wore the moniker with the same winking irony that suffuses so much of his work – using genre as a kind of Trojan horse to get his unique vision to travel. Ben Croll, Variety, 1 Dec. 2024 The pair stood close together as Swift smiled before winking and sticking her tongue out at the camera. Escher Walcott, People.com, 30 Nov. 2024 Directed by Simon Otto (How to Train Your Dragon), the Netflix feature boasts a strong voice cast as well as a narrative that successfully finds the middle ground between winking self-awareness and the suspension of disbelief that propels all Yuletide tales. Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Oct. 2024 Some signed off with smiling or winking face emojis. Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, 15 Oct. 2024 Ten Spirit Christmas stores will open around the Northeast, with some taking over current Spirit Halloweens and others opening in new locations, where, instead of the retailer’s typical cloak-wearing skeleton mascot, guests will be greeted by a giant winking Santa Claus. Bailey Richards, People.com, 7 Oct. 2024 The show takes off from there, an hour and a half of glitzy group dance sequences, intimate ballads, and winking innuendos set in a two-story New York City penthouse. Lucy Feldman, TIME, 2 Oct. 2024 The wooden caps — winking to Venetian palazzos’ foundations — come in colors such as red, ecru and green, and are lined in cork. Jennifer Weil, WWD, 3 Sep. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for winking
Adjective
  • Glaser, from a very glancing stylistic consideration, looks like a multicam by comparison.
    Joe Reid, Vulture, 10 Aug. 2024
  • Even so, Joonam is too scattershot and distanced from culture and politics to resonate with the news — potentially the film’s greatest draw — in more than a glancing way.
    Caryn James, The Hollywood Reporter, 22 Jan. 2023
Verb
  • Instead of pushing down and ignoring, actively look at everything in your life — good and bad.
    Corrin Gani, Austin American-Statesman, 11 Dec. 2024
  • Kroger breached the merger agreement by refusing to divest assets necessary for antitrust approval, ignoring feedback from regulators, rejecting divesture buyers and failing to cooperate with Albertsons, the company claims.
    Antonio Pequeño IV, Forbes, 11 Dec. 2024
Adjective
  • Nowhere is this failure more glaring than in housing, and nowhere is that more evident than in California.
    Rigel Robinson, The Mercury News, 7 Dec. 2024
  • The most glaring example of Trump’s penchant for relying on acting heads centered around the Office of Management and Budget where Russell Vought served as acting director for a year and a half before winning full Senate confirmation.
    Alex Gangitano, The Hill, 30 Nov. 2024
Adjective
  • Rows and rows of poinsettias, thousands of them, spread across the concrete floors in a sea of crimson, the scent of damp soil and the blinding brightness of the blooms hitting my senses instantly.
    Kaitlyn Yarborough, Southern Living, 1 Dec. 2024
  • To say that all of them were financed with equity amounts to a blinding glimpse of the obvious.
    John Tamny, Forbes, 24 Nov. 2024
Adjective
  • To assemble the properties, Disney razed City Winery (which before that was another media center, the home of El Diario/La Prensa) and a full block of low-rise commercial buildings, but a 2013 rezoning precluded replacing them with a single glittering glass stalagmite.
    Justin Davidson, Curbed, 4 Dec. 2024
  • The view of the glittering jade ocean from the bed is a highlight.
    Harriet Marsden, The Week UK, theweek, 2 Dec. 2024
Adjective
  • This year there have been multiple flaring incidents, including planned flaring that occurred during maintenance work in February and several weeks in April and May.
    Bay City News Service, The Mercury News, 22 Sep. 2024
  • Oil refining giant Valero must pay a $1.2 million penalty for major flaring incidents at its Benicia facility that spewed dark plumes of pollutants into neighborhoods, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday.
    Julie Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle, 5 Apr. 2023
Adjective
  • Much like watching people paddle a boat, watching people carry heavy objects is not the most scintillating television.
    Emma Sharpe, Vulture, 29 Aug. 2024
  • The 120th World Series offers one of the most scintillating matchups in recent memory.
    Kevin Dotson, CNN, 25 Oct. 2024

Thesaurus Entries Near winking

Cite this Entry

“Winking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/winking. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.

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