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Glite Dictionary
blink-and-you-miss-it

blink-and-you-miss-it

8.3
Very short and easy to miss if you do not look closely
  • idiom
  • /blɪŋk ənd ju mɪs ɪt/
  • Informal
translation icon : tan rápido que no lo ves
  • Her smile was so brief, a blink-and-you-miss-it moment that left everyone in the room charmed.

Examples

  • The performance was a blink-and-you-miss-it moment!

  • There was a blink-and-you-miss-it mistake in the final scene of the movie.

  • The comet made a blink-and-you-miss-it appearance in the early morning sky.

  • The protest lasted only a blink-and-you-miss-it five minutes before the police arrived.

  • That was a blink-and-you-miss-it chance!

  • The fireworks display was a blink-and-you-miss-it event, lighting up the night sky for just a few seconds.

  • The performance included a blink-and-you-miss-it scene that caught the attention of only the most observant viewers.

Antonyms

prolonged
69 3.9

Continuing for a longer time than usual

enduring
1 4.2

Continuing for a long time without fading

How Brief

blink-and-you-miss-it
  • Informal
8.3
fleeting
66 6.3
momentary
44 4.8
brief
587 2.0
short-lived
49 3.9

Surface Forms

blink-and-you-miss-it positive

Morphology

blink-and-you-miss-it = blink + and + you + miss + it (transparent) = blink + and + you + miss + it

The phrase is a literal composition of common words whose combined meaning ('if you blink you will miss it') directly yields 'extremely brief'.

Etymology

The phrase blink-and-you-miss-it comes from the action blink ('to close your eyes for a very short time') and the word miss ('not see'). So, it pictures something so quick that you could 'miss' it if you blink, which is why we use it to mean extremely brief or fleeting.