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
The lads barely flinched, only allowing themselves a brief flicker of enjoyment on the second chorus.
From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2026
As it steadily gains steam from its spare opening bars, the number has tornado sirens harmonizing while lives flicker and disappear like sparks flying off a firecracker’s fuse.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 12, 2026
“Good work, son,” Captain Marsh said, with the flicker of an almost-smile.
From I Survived the American Revolution, 1776 by Lauren Tarshis
It flickers a bit as she realizes that the Robin to whom she was so close—she raised him herself; his father was just a one-night fling—had a more complicated life than she knew of.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 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
A shadow of recognition flickers across Caesar’s face, and I can tell he knows that the mockingjay isn’t just my token.
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
As lights flickered on along the passageways, I followed my guide further inside.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
The computer made it to Pixar’s campus, flickered to life and brought Woody and Buzz back from the dead.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 20, 2026
Flares were let off, ticker tape flickered in the air and a stunning tifo rose from the terraces with an accompanying banner reading "For my town, for my club".
From BBC ● Nov. 25, 2025
At night, far from shore, more stars flickered than he’d ever noticed, and he was awestruck by the way phosphorescent creatures set the waves aglow.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2025
For a moment, her stomach flickered with a panic she didn’t quite understand, but when she caught a glimpse of her face in the reflection of the wineglass, it was hers.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
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
Build a driveshaft for the second season, which was growing from a flickering hope to an alarming likelihood.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2026
At one point father and baby ate grass together, the big grass fronds flickering around their heads as they chomped.
From Slate ● May 27, 2026
The narrator of “10:04” dreams of a book that, “like a poem, is neither fiction nor nonfiction, but a flickering between them.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 31, 2026
Sitting down at my mom’s desk, I stared at the flickering flames and let my brain churn over everything that had happened.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
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.
