skim-read

British

verb

to read quickly and superficially, in order to pick up the important or significant details

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

They tell me they skim-read, even if they don't understand the information they are looking at.

From BBC • Jun. 13, 2022

At the end of the meeting, Dehmer gave the document to Roberto to take back to ORNL; nothing was left in the government's possession except the incomplete e-mailed copy that Dehmer had skim-read.

From Nature • Jul. 6, 2011

I skim-read David Conn's piece about Arsenal yesterday, saw the liberal use of the word custodian, and assumed it was a piece about their need for a goalkeeper.

From The Guardian • Apr. 13, 2011

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023