as in peered
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.
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Recent Examples of squinted
Giles cranked the boat back around, leaned out from behind the steering wheel and squinted past a bright glare on the water.
—
Kelso Harper, Scientific American, 16 Dec. 2025
Amid the eucalyptus groves at Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz, local bug enthusiast Sasha Hernandez squinted through the draping green leaves, searching for flashes of black and orange — the wings of migratory monarch butterflies traveling from west of the Rocky Mountains.
—Olivia Maule, Mercury News, 6 Dec. 2025
The page squinted up at the nightingale, her dull feathers and stippled breast.
—Hazlitt, 19 Nov. 2025
The Babycatcher looked up at the sky and squinted.
—Literary Hub, 16 Oct. 2025
Kelso Harper, Scientific American, 16 Dec. 2025
Amid the eucalyptus groves at Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz, local bug enthusiast Sasha Hernandez squinted through the draping green leaves, searching for flashes of black and orange — the wings of migratory monarch butterflies traveling from west of the Rocky Mountains.
—Olivia Maule, Mercury News, 6 Dec. 2025
The page squinted up at the nightingale, her dull feathers and stippled breast.
—Hazlitt, 19 Nov. 2025
The Babycatcher looked up at the sky and squinted.
—Literary Hub, 16 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for squinted
Verb
-
Nearby, a mating pair of wild swans that live on the lake peered over the fence.—
Ryan Gillespie,
The Orlando Sentinel,
24 Jan. 2026
-
Later Tuesday night, as protesters marched toward Commerce Street, people cheered from rooftops, peered from apartment windows and leaned over parking garage balconies to capture photos and videos of the commotion.—
Elissa Jorgensen,
Dallas Morning News,
20 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Brookwood junior Collier Stanton extended his arm to the wall, glanced at the scoreboard and slapped the water as his older brother, Baylor, pumped his fist behind the block.—
Ansley Gavlak,
AJC.com,
8 Feb. 2026
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In a hallway of Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, just outside the Senators’ dressing room, Ullmark looked up from his cellphone and glanced at the score on a television screen hanging from the wall.—
Julian McKenzie,
New York Times,
1 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
The two men, in their respective corners, stared each other down.—
Ryan Gaydos,
FOXNews.com,
6 Feb. 2026
-
Both stared in my direction, looking surprised at the chance for free food out here.—
David Zeug,
Outdoor Life,
4 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
The emails show how easily some digital media figures and companies were taken advantage of; publications that were publishing hundreds of articles a day hardly blinked when a positive article about a financier showed up, or a serious-sounding foundation official asked for an image tweak.—
Max Tani,
semafor.com,
9 Feb. 2026
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By 2025, those places blinked out like starlight.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Squinted.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/squinted. Accessed 14 Feb. 2026.
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