wink at
phrasal verb
winked at; winking at; winks at
: to pretend not to have seen or noticed (something) : to ignore
The city cops wink at the mayor's parking violations.
Examples of wink at in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
This is a movie about storytelling that both undermines and embraces the whole idea of storytelling, winking at the hokiness of fairy tales while still believing in them — a satire of the Happily Ever After story and also a prime example of the genre.
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Will Leitch, Vulture, 13 Sep. 2025
Passepartout is also a wink at a long-running Italian television series in the early 2000s hosted by art historian Philippe Daverio, which made discovering and decrypting art very entertaining.
—Miles Socha, Footwear News, 4 Sep. 2025
With this cinematic trick, Schnabel seems to be winking at us a bit, allowing the suspension of belief in the name of art.
—Pete Hammond, Deadline, 3 Sep. 2025
Sprinkling ‘70s-style ceramics on the plaster fireplace winked at the past with zero regret.
—Yelena Moroz Alpert, Architectural Digest, 2 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for wink at
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Will Leitch, Vulture, 13 Sep. 2025
Passepartout is also a wink at a long-running Italian television series in the early 2000s hosted by art historian Philippe Daverio, which made discovering and decrypting art very entertaining.
—Miles Socha, Footwear News, 4 Sep. 2025
With this cinematic trick, Schnabel seems to be winking at us a bit, allowing the suspension of belief in the name of art.
—Pete Hammond, Deadline, 3 Sep. 2025
Sprinkling ‘70s-style ceramics on the plaster fireplace winked at the past with zero regret.
—Yelena Moroz Alpert, Architectural Digest, 2 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for wink at
Cite this Entry
“Wink at.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wink%20at. Accessed 20 Sep. 2025.
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