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Glite Dictionary
😩 Tired-looking 🌫️ To blur
to blear

to blear

9.9
To make the edges of things look dim or blurred
  • verb
  • /blɪr/
translation icon : nublar
  • Smeared with drink, bleared with pain, her face crumples into a beggarly smile.
  • bleared eyes

Examples

  • Everything seemed sad and ugly ("smeared, bleared with toil").

    Academic text (1992)

  • The door of the Willigan hacienda was opened by Leon Medallion, a man of countenance, eyes bleared by whatever allergy was affecting him that morning.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • After crying all night, she woke up with bleared vision and struggled to see the clock.

  • He rubbed his eyes to clear them after waking up with bleared sight from sleep.

  • The bright sunlight made my eyes feel bleared, causing everything to look fuzzy.

Synonyms

to darken
vsto blear
63 3.3

Make or become less bright, for example a room

targets making vision and outlines less clear rather than general darkness
to blur
vsto blear
61 3.6

To make something hard to see or understand

focuses more on dimming vision and outlines rather than general obscuring
to dim
vsto blear
12 2.4

To become less bright or make a light weaker

affects clarity and outlines more than simple brightness reduction
to deaden
vsto blear
1 6.1

To make an outline, sound, or feeling less clear

focuses specifically on dimming vision and outlines rather than reducing strength
to dislimn
vsto blear
  • Archaic
9.9

To make the outline or image faint and hard to see

is more about dimming vision overall rather than removing outlines
to bedim
vsto blear
9.9

To make something, like light and memory, less bright or clear

emphasizes making vision and outlines less sharp rather than just darkness
to defocus
vsto blear
6.1

To make a photo or view blurry and not clear

creates the same dimming effect but without a focus change
to befog
vsto blear
8.8

To make something hard to see or understand

relies more on dimming vision and outlines rather than clouding
to haze over
vsto blear
5.3

Look less clear as if covered by a thin mist

is used more for dimming vision and outlines than for light misting

How Clear

to clarify
248 3.3
to blear
9.9
to blur
61 3.6
to obscure
86 7.0

Surface Forms

blear infinitive
bleared past
bleared past participle
blearing present participle
blears third person singular

Etymology

Blear originally meant 'to make dim', like when smoke, tears, or tiredness hide the edges of things, and it shares the same root as bleary. So, to blear something is to make it blurred or less clear.