blank
Americanadjective
-
(of paper or other writing surface) having no marks; not written or printed on.
a blank sheet of paper.
-
not filled in, as a printed form.
a blank check.
-
unrelieved or unbroken by ornament, opening, decoration, etc..
a blank wall.
-
lacking some usual or completing feature.
An image is stamped onto a blank coin by a die.
-
(of a recording medium) containing no previously recorded information.
She transferred all the restored data onto a blank hard drive.
I still have a few blank CD-ROMs.
-
void of interest, variety, results, etc..
She sometimes occupied her blank days reading detective stories.
-
showing no attention, interest, or emotion.
a blank expression on his face.
-
disconcerted; nonplussed; speechless.
He looked blank when I asked him why he applied for the job.
- Synonyms:
- perplexed, dumbstruck
-
blank stupidity.
- Synonyms:
- unqualified, absolute, perfect, unadulterated, thorough, pure, downright
-
Archaic. white; pale; colorless.
noun
-
blanks
plural
-
a place where something is lacking; an empty space.
a blank in one's memory.
-
a space in a printed form, test, etc., to be filled in.
Write your name in the blank.
-
a printed form containing such spaces.
Have you filled out one of these blanks?
-
a dash put in place of an omitted letter, series of letters, etc., especially to avoid writing a word considered profane or obscene.
-
Metalworking. a piece of metal ready to be drawn, pressed, or machined into a finished object.
-
Archery. the bull's-eye.
verb (used with object)
-
blanks,
present (3rd person singular)
-
blanked,
past participle, past
-
blanking
present participle
-
to cross out or delete, especially in order to invalidate or void (usually followed byout ).
to blank out an entry.
-
Informal. to keep (an opponent) from scoring in a game.
-
Metalworking. to stamp or punch out of flat stock, as with a die.
idioms
adjective
-
(of a writing surface) bearing no marks; not written on
-
(of a form, etc) with spaces left for details to be filled in
-
without ornament or break; unrelieved
a blank wall
-
not filled in; empty; void
a blank space
-
exhibiting no interest or expression
a blank look
-
lacking understanding; confused
he looked blank even after the explanations
-
absolute; complete
blank rejection
-
devoid of ideas or inspiration
his mind went blank in the exam
-
unproductive; barren
noun
-
an emptiness; void; blank space
-
an empty space for writing in, as on a printed form
-
a printed form containing such empty spaces
-
something characterized by incomprehension or mental confusion
my mind went a complete blank
-
a mark, often a dash, in place of a word, esp a taboo word
-
short for blank cartridge
-
a plate or plug used to seal an aperture
-
a piece of material prepared for stamping, punching, forging, etc
-
archery the white spot in the centre of a target
-
-
to choose a lottery ticket that fails to win
-
to get no results from something
-
verb
-
(usually foll by out) to cross out, blot, or obscure
-
slang to ignore or be unresponsive towards (someone)
the crowd blanked her for the first four numbers
-
to forge, stamp, punch, or cut (a piece of material) in preparation for forging, die-stamping, or drawing operations
-
(often foll by off) to seal (an aperture) with a plate or plug
-
informal to prevent (an opponent) from scoring in a game
Synonym Usage
See empty.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
blanksimple
-
blankssimple
-
have blankedperfect
-
has blankedperfect
-
am blankingprogressive
-
are blankingprogressive
-
is blankingprogressive
-
have been blankingperfect progressive
-
has been blankingperfect progressive
Past
-
blankedsimple
-
had blankedperfect
-
was blankingprogressive
-
were blankingprogressive
-
had been blankingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of blank
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English (noun and adjective) from Anglo-French, French blanc; adjective from Germanic; compare Old English blanca “white horse,” Old High German blanch “bright, white” ( German blank )
Explanation
Something that's blank is empty or undecorated. A blank canvas hasn't been drawn or painted on yet — it's clean and unmarked. A blank computer screen has no information on it, and a blank look on someone's face is completely free of any expression, revealing nothing. If your mind goes blank during a job interview, you are left without any thoughts for a moment. When blank is a noun, it means "a line to be filled in" or "an empty space." In the 1500s, a blank was the empty, white center of a target, from the French word blanc, or "white."
Vocabulary lists containing blank
Absent
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Empty
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Absent
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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.
See Examples For:
It’s an old business story: Beware the blank check.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
Soffin left the Senate race blank on her absentee ballot, and she stood by that.
From Slate ● Nov. 3, 2026
The model then calculated the probability of snakebites occurring in specific locations, even where official health records were completely blank.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 30, 2026
The proportion of spoiled and blank votes also decreased.
From Barron's ● Oct. 26, 2026
She looked up, her blank eyes meeting Clara’s.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
For the uninitiated, Mad Libs is a decades-old word game in which players fill in the blanks of a prewritten story with random adjectives, nouns, and verbs before reading the surrealist results out loud.
From Slate ● Nov. 3, 2026
Yet many companies have been waiting for the Treasury Department and IRS to fill in the blanks on the rules for contributions from employers and employees.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026
Fishery inspectors relied on local pearling leaders and divers to fill in cartographic blanks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
The reporting since then has filled in the blanks.
From Salon ● Jul. 25, 2026
One way to sum up the new scholarship is to say that it has begun, at last, to fill in one of the biggest blanks in history: the Western Hemisphere before 1492.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
HBO the canvas is wider and blanker, and Sinclair says that the previous episodes put them under pressure too.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 16, 2016
Eilis’s innocence couldn’t be purer or blanker if she had been imported straight from “Little Red Riding Hood,” and the simplicity of the good—and the bad—folk back home in Enniscorthy couldn’t be more apparent.
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 6, 2015
On that first day, I glimpsed Ayano in the intensive care room, wrapped in a red and blue blanker, struggling to breathe, his eyes tipped back into his skull.
From Time Magazine Archive
The men hovering around us all had that murky quality to their expressions—blank smiles, blanker eyes.
From "The Darkest Minds" by Alexandra Bracken
If I had told him that part of that business was the laying out of a tennis-court he might have looked blanker.
From The Magic Egg and Other Stories by Frank Richard Stockton
"No," said the Spain coach, with the blankest of looks on his face, after being asked if he had seen a better team than his at the European Championship.
From Fox News ● Jul. 5, 2021
“No,” said the Spain coach, with the blankest of looks on his face, after being asked if he had seen a better team than his at the European Championship.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 5, 2021
“She looked at me right in the eye with the blankest face, the blankest white pale face, a face that haunts me to this day, and says, ‘I love you,’ he recalled.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2016
“It was a failed experiment. I was singing something about how expensive my hormones were, and I just got the blankest face from him.”
From The Guardian ● Apr. 7, 2016
None of his “leads” had led anywhere, except, perhaps, down a blind alley toward the blankest of walls.
From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote
Four-goal Mikel Oyarzabal has blanked in the past two matches, so Luis de la Fuente's side have needed late intervention from substitute Mikel Merino to edge past both Portugal and Belgium in the knockout rounds.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
Neither was enough to win, though it ensured the Dodgers weren’t blanked.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2026
Williams recorded five strikeouts, Angelina Gonzales hit a pair of home runs and the Cougars blanked Fullerton 7-0 to capture their sixth tournament title Saturday night at Peralta Park in Anaheim.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 5, 2026
On their home ice and snow, Norway went from getting blanked to winning 10 golds and the medal count.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 17, 2026
It's like I blanked out or something, and the nurse is giving me this cup of water, and the weird thing is she's crying.
From "Freak The Mighty" by Rodman Philbrick
Norco advanced to the finals by blanking Orange Lutheran 2-0.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 5, 2026
Despite blanking in Chelsea's 4-0 win last gameweek, you just can't ignore Palmer in what should be another comfortable victory at Stamford Bridge.
From BBC ● Mar. 6, 2025
The Kraken are 6-0-2 in Daccord’s past eight starts and he posted his second shutout in the last three weeks after blanking Florida on Dec. 12.
From Washington Times ● Jan. 1, 2024
It was Minnesota’s first shutout since defeating the Packers 16-0 on Dec. 23, 2017 and the first blanking of Las Vegas since its 24-0 loss to New Orleans on Oct.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 10, 2023
Later I would feel bad about such things, but when I came back from blanking out, I acted so horribly.
From "100 Sideways Miles" by Andrew Smith
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