Blur Meaning
/ˈblɜː/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo make indistinct or hazy, to obscure or dim.
verbTo smear, stain or smudge.
Sentence Examples
I can't remember anything. It's just one big blur.
Fiction and reality are starting to blur.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Without my glasses, the sign in the distance is just a ____.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The fast car was just a ____ as it sped past us on the highway today.
Word Origin & History
From earlier blurre, probably an alteration of blear, from Middle English bleren, from Old English *blerian (attested in āblered (“made bare, made bald”)), from Proto-West Germanic *blaʀjan, from Proto-Germanic *blazjaną (“to make pale”), from Proto-Germanic *blasaz (“pale”). Compare Scots blore, bloar (“to blur, cover with blots”), Low German bleeroged (“blear-eyed”). More at blear.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"His eyes are blurred with the lightning's glare."
— 1819, Joseph Rodman Drake, The Culprit Fay:
"Sarcasms may eclipse thine own, / But cannot blur my lost renown."
— 1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC:
"Then give this box focus to blur the first one: […]"
— 2003, John Pollock, JavaScript: A Beginner's Guide, Second Edition, page 175:
"These form elements need to have an onFocus event handler to blur the current focus."
— 2001, Martin Webb, Michel Plungjan, Keith Drakard, Instant JavaScript, page 678:
"Blurring one window and focusing on another window yields the same result of sending the window to the back of the pile."
— 2007, Danny Goodman, JavaScript Bible, page 273:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Without my glasses, the sign in the distance is just a ____.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The fast car was just a ____ as it sped past us on the highway today.