winked; winking; winks
1
: to shut one eye briefly as a signal or in teasing
2
: to close and open the eyelids quickly
3
: to avoid seeing or noting something
—usually used with at
4
: to gleam or flash intermittently : twinkle
her glasses winking in the sunlight—
Harper Lee
Harper Lee5
a
: to come to an end
—usually used with out
b
: to stop shining
—usually used with out
6
: to signal a message with a light
1
: to cause to open and shut
2
: to affect or influence by or as if by blinking the eyes
Examples of wink in a Sentence
Verb
He winked and said that he understood.
She winked at me as she asked what I was doing tonight.
She winked an eye at me.
The puppy was winking in the bright sun.
The stars winked in the night sky.
The airplane's landing lights winked on and off.
Noun
Her wink told me she was just kidding.
“I knew you could do it,” he said with a wink.
Recent Examples on the Web
Hershal Pandya, Vulture, 21 Mar. 2025
In 2025, the outrageous and at-times nauseating comedy is also ideal viewing for late-night genre lovers awake and looking to explore [wink] on Valentine’s Day.
—Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 14 Feb. 2025
Ellen Cushing, The Atlantic, 15 Apr. 2025
Modern thinkers stopped using these concepts altogether except in quotation marks, with a wink, a smirk, and a glance backward toward the unscientific past.
—Isaac Bashevis Singer, Harpers Magazine, 26 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for wink
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Verb
After all, the comedian has a long reputation of playing comedic bits extremely straight without winking, and this project feels apiece with that.
—Hershal Pandya, Vulture, 21 Mar. 2025
In 2025, the outrageous and at-times nauseating comedy is also ideal viewing for late-night genre lovers awake and looking to explore [wink] on Valentine’s Day.
—Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 14 Feb. 2025
Noun
Even the ones, such as Carpenter, who go for over-the-top sexuality do it with a wink and a heteropessimist edge.
—Ellen Cushing, The Atlantic, 15 Apr. 2025
Modern thinkers stopped using these concepts altogether except in quotation marks, with a wink, a smirk, and a glance backward toward the unscientific past.
—Isaac Bashevis Singer, Harpers Magazine, 26 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for wink
Cite this Entry
“Wink.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wink. Accessed 29 Apr. 2025.
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