flicker
1 Americanverb (used without object)
-
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
-
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
Upstairs, children pore over schoolbooks, mothers prepare lunch and television sets flicker in cramped living rooms, all against the constant background noise of shredders whining and baling presses pounding below.
From Barron's ● Jul. 18, 2026
The coffees and lunches and dinners of that season flicker in my mind like a rom-com video montage.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026
Catherine Wu, head of product for Claude Code at Anthropic, says the visual flicker was a side effect of a software team moving at a rapid pace, and prioritizing the rollout of new features.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
His garb placed him from at least the previous century, and as he argued with whomever it was only he could see, he began to flicker, and before long, he was completely gone.
From "Ophie's Ghosts" by Justina Ireland
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
Ms. Ziegler’s sardonic humor flickers or flares in virtually every scene.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 12, 2026
There have been flickers of improvement under German Rohl, who has won two of his first five games.
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2025
“Put your hands up,” she says, while a classmate flickers the lights on and off.
From Salon ● Jul. 29, 2025
A brief look of disappointment flickers across his face.
From "A Mango-Shaped Space" by Wendy Mass
A lit candle flickered among the flowers, where a teddy bear was also perched.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
They flickered occasionally over McCullum's next three years in charge, but nothing like that heady first year.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
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
Families, in their various flavors, have been essential to television since that light first flickered on.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 15, 2026
When Ophie pressed her on it she only flickered in that way Ophie had come to learn meant it was not something the spirit wanted to discuss.
From "Ophie's Ghosts" by Justina Ireland
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
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 study was longer than she’d expected, a rectangular room bathed in the flickering golden light of several fat waxy candles.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
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.
