blip

American  

[blip] / blɪp /

noun

1. Also called pip.  Electronics.

   1. a spot of light on a radar screen indicating the position of a plane, submarine, or other object.

   2. (loosely) any small spot of light on a display screen.

2. a brief upturn, as in revenue or income.

   The midwinter blip was no cause for optimism among store owners.

3. anything small, as in amount or number.

   a blip of light; Those opposed were merely a blip in the opinion polls.

4. bleep.

5. Slang. a nickel; five cents.

6. Movies. a mark of synchronization on a sound track.

7. a small or brief interruption, as in the continuity of a motion-picture film or the supply of light or electricity.

   There were blips in the TV film where the commercials had been edited out.

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verb (used without object)

blipped, blipping

1. Informal. to move or proceed in short, irregular, jerking movements.

   The stock market has blipped one point higher this week.

verb (used with object)

blipped, blipping

1. bleep.

blip British  

/ blɪp /

noun

1. a repetitive sound, such as that produced by an electronic device, by dripping water, etc

2. Also called: pip.  the spot of light or a sharply peaked pulse on a radar screen indicating the position of an object

3. a temporary irregularity recorded in performance of something

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verb

1. (intr) to produce such a noise

Etymology

Origin of blip

1890–95, for an earlier sense; sound symbolism, with p for brevity and abrupt end of the impulse; bl- perhaps from blink

Example Sentences

“Performance art was a blip on the cultural radar,” says Newton.

From Los Angeles Times • May 5, 2026

A strategist warned Bitcoin’s recent 5% bump could be a blip, as it remains below its late 2025 record above $100,000.

From Barron's • May 4, 2026

What is happening at Stars and Stripes is not a mere controversy of the day or week, or a blip in the attention economy and 24-hour news cycle.

From Salon • May 3, 2026

That is lower than previously projected as the ONS now treats the post Brexit immigration peak as a "blip" rather than an ongoing trend, said Dr Madeleine Sumption, of Oxford University's Migration Observatory.

From BBC • Apr. 28, 2026

Yet counting all species together, there were still no more than perhaps a million humans living between the Indonesian archipelago and the Iberian peninsula, a mere blip on the ecological radar.

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari

Related Words

• glitch