flicker
1 Americanverb (used without object)
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flickers,
present (3rd person singular)
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flickered,
past participle, past
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flickering
present participle
-
to burn unsteadily; shine with a wavering light; blink on and off.
The candle flickered in the draft and went out.
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to move to and fro; vibrate; quiver.
The long grasses flickered in the wind.
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to flutter.
Her eyelids flickered, the only sign she'd been startled.
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to appear or occur briefly.
A smile flickered across his face.
verb (used with object)
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flickers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
flickered,
past participle, past
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flickering
present participle
noun
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an unsteady flame or light.
A dim flicker of lamplight was all that illuminated the room.
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a flickering movement.
The flicker of the snake's tongue was hypnotizing.
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a brief occurrence or appearance.
The thought of reinforcements gave them a flicker of hope.
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Slang. Often flickers flick.
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Ophthalmology. the visual sensation of flickering that occurs when the interval between intermittent flashes of light is too long to permit fusion.
noun
verb
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(intr) to shine with an unsteady or intermittent light
a candle flickers
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(intr) to move quickly to and fro; quiver, flutter, or vibrate
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(tr) to cause to flicker
noun
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an unsteady or brief light or flame
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a swift quivering or fluttering movement
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a visual sensation, often seen in a television image, produced by periodic fluctuations in the brightness of light at a frequency below that covered by the persistence of vision
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(plural) a US word for flick 2
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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flickersimple
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flickerssimple
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have flickeredperfect
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has flickeredperfect
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am flickeringprogressive
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are flickeringprogressive
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is flickeringprogressive
-
have been flickeringperfect progressive
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has been flickeringperfect progressive
Past
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flickeredsimple
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had flickeredperfect
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was flickeringprogressive
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were flickeringprogressive
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had been flickeringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of flicker1
First recorded before 1000; Middle English verb flikeren, flekeren, Old English flicerian, flicorian “to flutter”; cognate with Dutch flikkeren
Origin of flicker2
An Americanism dating back to 1800–10; said to be imitative of the bird's note
Explanation
To flicker is to flash on and off at random. If your computer screen is flickering right now, you are probably having trouble reading this. Something that is flickering is flashing on and off in an unpredictable way. A fluorescent light may flicker for a while before it stops working. A flicker is also a quick flash or burst of light, like a glint or a spark. Similarly, flicker can refer to a sudden and short-lived feeling. A child opening a present might have a flicker of excitement before realizing that the box contains only tube socks and underwear.
Vocabulary lists containing flicker
Unit 4: Powerful Openings
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"The Song of Wandering Aengus" by W.B. Yeats
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"The Song of Wandering Aengus" and "Sonnet 43," Vocabulary from the poems
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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:
Their pages don’t flicker with pop-up ads or interrupt one book to tell you about others you might want to read.
From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2026
Nevertheless, Europe is benefiting from a flicker of activity in the defence sector, notably with the stock market debut in Amsterdam of Czech arms giant CSG, at $4.47 billion, the third-largest deal worldwide since January.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
He went to the toilet, which is when he saw a flicker of orange through the frosted glass of the window.
From BBC ● Jun. 9, 2026
The flicker has largely been fixed, she adds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
There was, it seemed to Taran, a flicker of light.
From "The Black Cauldron" by Lloyd Alexander
It’s flickers of glory lined by decades of pain.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
On the corner of another table, the flame from a candle flickers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026
Inside an underground shelter at a hospital in the Israeli city of Haifa, a television screen flickers with images of Iranian missiles as doctors and midwives deliver Sarah Bird's third child.
From Barron's ● Apr. 10, 2026
There have been flickers of improvement under German Rohl, who has won two of his first five games.
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2025
At home The cooler in the window Stops, then starts, And the TV flickers With a climate of snow.
From "Neighborhood Odes" by Gary Soto
In one recording of a WhatsApp video call seen by AFP, the scammer, appearing lifelike as the prince, flickered on the screen.
From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026
The sound of Billie Eilish drifted overhead as candles flickered along every visible surface of Boom, the penthouse lounge crowning the Standard hotel in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 18, 2026
But many of those spectators were cast into darkness for four or five minutes early on until someone put some change in the meter, the scoring screens flickered back into life and play resumed.
From BBC ● Feb. 4, 2026
Blinding white lights flickered, giving the audience small flashes of Lady Gaga as she took the 68th Grammy Awards stage Sunday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 1, 2026
The red liquid flickered like flames in the glass.
From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton
He saw Bori’s flickering silhouette gripping the bars.
From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026
Refn is so enraptured by the sight of strobes flickering across Thatcher’s mannequin-flawless features that, by the end of the film, I needed a break from her face.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
Absorbed students carefully threaded wires into junction boxes to make circuits connected to lights, bulbs flickering on one by one to signal a job well done.
From Barron's ● Jul. 8, 2026
The world watched as Bad Bunny and his dancers performed on top of utility poles, accompanied by sparks and flickering power lines across the stage.
From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2026
The reds of the linens and rugs, the molten golden-orange of the flickering firelight, every color in the room grew so vibrant they almost hurt his eyes just to look at them.
From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley
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.
