eyeball
Americannoun
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eyeballs
plural
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the ball or globe of the eye.
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Informal. eyeballs, people who view or read something.
Old TV shows are getting a lot of eyeballs online.
verb (used with object)
idioms
noun
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the entire ball-shaped part of the eye
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in close confrontation
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of eyeball
1580–90; 1900–05 eyeball for def. 3; eye + ball 1
Explanation
Your eyeball is the round, ball-shaped part of your eye. When you go to an eye doctor, she will take a close look at your eyeballs. Every vertebrate — or animal with a spine — has eyeballs that sit within an eye socket. Your eyeballs are your organs of sight, making it possible for you to see light and color and to focus on the things you're looking at, sending all of these messages to your brain. You can also use the word eyeball, informally, as a verb: "Why do you always eyeball me when I walk by? Is it my strange hat?"
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:
"I opened the package, and there was a giant, 200-year-old eyeball sitting on dry ice just staring back at me," the 28-year-old says with a laugh.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 23, 2026
Their snobbery is juxtaposed with Carney’s friend and colleague Pepper’s unsettling bluntness and eyeball to eyeball stare.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
On Wednesday morning, I walked into Channel 4's offices in central London and took a seat in a room eyeball to eyeball with its boss.
From BBC ● May 22, 2026
It causes the eyeball to grow longer from front to back, making it harder to focus farther away.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 28, 2025
Miss Leefolt follow me in there, eyeball a bucket a Crisco, put it down.
From "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
It is "better than a pilot's eyeballs" says Rose.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026
The last 20 years, Marx said, have been one big “lowest-common-denominator fight for attention,” meaning it was easier than ever to remain a public figure and make money off the resulting eyeballs.
From Salon ● Aug. 29, 2026
Their cloudy-looking eyes can appear almost lifeless, and parasites are often found attached directly to the eyeballs.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 23, 2026
“She would just be up to her eyeballs, almost literally in the book,” he says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
She sighs again and rolls her eyes so slowly and dramatically that I wonder if her eyeballs are going to roll into the back of her head.
From "The Benefits of Being an Octopus" by Ann Braden
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
