squinting

verb

present participle of squint
as in peering
to take a look with the eyes narrowed (as because of difficulty seeing) He squinted in her direction, but couldn't make her out with the sun behind her.

Related Words

Relevance

Example 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 squinting To help prevent wrinkles from forming around your eyes naturally, Zeichner recommends wearing sunglasses in the sun, as well as regular glasses to prevent squinting. — Daley Quinn, Glamour, 9 July 2026 No more squinting at raw tape and praying for a basketball IQ transplant. — Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 24 June 2026 Tired of squinting at your dim, blurry TV? — K. Thor Jensen, PC Magazine, 22 June 2026 Getting there requires a bit of squinting. — John Hollinger, New York Times, 20 June 2026 And though the wave is turning, Ahn is already squinting at the horizon for the next one. — Joshua Encinias, IndieWire, 17 June 2026 On a street by the harbor, crowds of people were squinting into the distance, exclaiming every time the whale exhaled. — Jessica Camille Aguirre, New Yorker, 2 May 2026 Whether 2026 is the year, or just the year fans started squinting at the schedule, is the watercooler question worth holding onto until that first Monday in May. — Hanna Wickes, Miami Herald, 29 Apr. 2026 The family smiles while dressed casually and barefoot, squinting from the sun's rays. — Taijuan Moorman, USA Today, 29 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for squinting
  1. peering
  2. staring
  3. glancing
  4. blinking
  5. peeping
  6. gazing
Verb
  • All the while the fMRI churned on, peering through the dogs’ skulls into the brain below and looking for the areas that lit up as a result of the visual stimuli.
    — Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 10 Aug. 2026
  • Someone moving between homes, peering through windows and carrying a large knife, CNN affiliate KSDK reported.
    — Rebekah Riess, CNN Money, 7 Aug. 2026
Definition of peering
Verb
  • Very few things in movies and television shows delight me as much as a mysterious character revealing his or her fascinating backstory through an extended monologue that is delivered while staring off into the unspecified middle distance.
    — Brian Grubb, Vulture, 10 Aug. 2026
  • Remember, staring directly at the sun during the partial phases of an eclipse can cause permanent vision loss.
    — Anthony Wood, Space.com, 5 Aug. 2026
Definition of staring
Verb
  • Some of the men in the room could be seen glancing nervously at their dates.
    — Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune, 7 Aug. 2026
  • The episode is like a hothouse of feeling with every line delivery, moment of eye contact, and glancing touch landing humid and heavy.
    — Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 15 July 2026
Definition of glancing
Verb
  • Songs were deconstructed and reconstructed each night as the pair hunched over their blinking arrays.
    — Will Pritchard, Pitchfork, 8 Aug. 2026
  • The car’s hazard-warning lights were blinking the whole time.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 5 Aug. 2026
Definition of blinking
Verb
  • With the end of summer quickly approaching, leaf-peeping trips and fall activities will soon fill the calendar.
    — Michele Laufik, Martha Stewart, 30 July 2026
  • Scenic drives, hiking trails, and charming mountain towns make this vast region one of the country's premier leaf-peeping destinations.
    — Brittany Anas, Forbes.com, 27 July 2026
Definition of peeping
Verb
  • Bored staffers spent endless hours gazing at their phones, leading supervisors to restrict phone use.
    — Jesse Coburn, ProPublica, 12 Aug. 2026
  • The first image shows the mother-of-two enjoying a moment of calm outside, wearing a pair of pale jeans and a blue striped shirt, gazing thoughtfully into the distance.
    — Jennifer Hassan, USA Today, 4 Aug. 2026
Definition of gazing

Browse Nearby Words

squinted
squinting
squints
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Squinting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/squinting. Accessed 15 Aug. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on squinting

Nglish: Translation of squinting for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

The Words of the Week - Aug. 14

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
image of a green cube out of place in a lineup of red spheres
Odd Word Out: Synonyms Vol. 2 Quiz Figure out which word isn't like the others.
See All