gaze

American  

[gayz] / geɪz /

verb (used without object)

• gazes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• gazed,
  past participle,  past
• gazing
  present participle

1. 

   to look steadily and intently, as with great curiosity, interest, pleasure, or wonder.

---

noun

• gazes
  plural

1. a steady or intent look.

2. Heraldry. at gaze, (of a deer or deerlike animal) represented as seen from the side with the head looking toward the spectator.

   a stag at gaze.

gaze British  

/ ɡeɪz /

verb

1. (intr) to look long and fixedly, esp in wonder or admiration

---

noun

1. a fixed look; stare

Synonym Usage

Gaze, stare, gape suggest looking fixedly at something. To gaze is to look steadily and intently at something, especially at that which excites admiration, curiosity, or interest: to gaze at scenery, at a scientific experiment. To stare is to gaze with eyes wide open, as from surprise, wonder, alarm, stupidity, or impertinence: to stare unbelievingly or rudely. Gape is a word with uncomplimentary connotations; it suggests open-mouthed, often ignorant or rustic wonderment or curiosity: to gape at a tall building or a circus parade.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• gazer
  noun
• outgaze
  verb (used with object)
• gazeless
  adjective
• ungazing
  adjective
• gazingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• gazes
  plural

Participles

• gazing
  present
• gazed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• gaze
  simple
• gazes
  simple
• have gazed
  perfect
• has gazed
  perfect
• am gazing
  progressive
• are gazing
  progressive
• is gazing
  progressive
• have been gazing
  perfect progressive
• has been gazing
  perfect progressive

Past

• gazed
  simple
• had gazed
  perfect
• was gazing
  progressive
• were gazing
  progressive
• had been gazing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will gaze
  simple
• will have gazed
  perfect
• will be gazing
  progressive
• will have been gazing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of gaze

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English gasen; compare Norwegian, Swedish (dialect) gasa “to look”

Explanation

When someone lays eyes on you and keeps looking, it is a gaze or a stare. You can gaze back or just say, "Take a picture; it lasts longer." Gaze is both a verb and a noun. When people daydream, they often gaze off into the distance without focusing on anything. Another type of gaze, though, is to look very intently at something, as when you gaze at the sky making pictures out of clouds. A contest to see who will blink first means taking a long gaze into someone's eyes, and this type of gaze (the noun) will leave your eyes in a bit of a haze when you're done.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gaze gazes gazed gazing

He retells his memories with an unflinching gaze.

From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026

NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has completed an important series of tests showing that it can keep its gaze extremely steady during observations.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 2, 2026

When you gaze into the black box, the black box calculates how best to gaze back.

From Slate ● Sep. 18, 2026

We gaze proudly at these little icons clocking up points like they're family.

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026

Movement flickered in the attic window, snagging his gaze.

From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman

At one point in the clip, the white pup gazes adoringly at the NFL star before hopping onto a couch to snuggle beside him while Kelce lovingly pets the pooch.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 7, 2026

From the top of a wind turbine nearly 100 metres above the ground, Grzegorz Witek, a coal miner, gazes at the horizon.

From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026

Ben Martill often gazes out of his window to watch the deer roaming below.

From BBC ● Dec. 25, 2025

Hours before the May 1960 opening of Amsterdam’s Anne Frank House, Otto Frank gazes at the empty annex where his family and four other Jews hid from the Nazis for more than two years.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 25, 2025

Grandpa steeples his hands and gazes at something above my shoulder.

From "Finding Junie Kim" by Ellen Oh

Kaur appeared visibly upset in the dock as the verdict was read out, while Digwa showed little emotion and gazed out into the courtroom.

From BBC ● May 28, 2026

When he gazed at the camera as Pennywise the clown, the resulting alert conveyed no concern about the menacing visage.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 5, 2026

An American flag waved in the background while various figures gazed up at the president in reverence.

From Barron's ● Apr. 13, 2026

She gazed at her grandson Adel as he weaved his way around the fabric and rope of the tent.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 19, 2026

The family sat around the rippling flames and gazed up at the stars.

From "The Wild Robot Escapes" by Peter Brown

The storyline is inscrutable, but Walters displays real range, gazing forlornly in the rain, hurling dishes at a wall, grinning and giving high-fives when a family takes him bowling.

From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026

When my yearlong tenure ended, I boarded my flight and soon was gazing out the airplane window over the Rockies.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026

The youngest son in a hodgepodge home, he wrote this memoir in 1993, gazing over his family’s 20th-century history.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

"They say love isn't about two people gazing into each other's eyes, it is about two people gazing outwards in the same direction. I believe this with all my heart."

From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026

She was gazing at a great, glittering block of ice when she stumbled and fell, and suddenly her smooth body was sliding downhill.

From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown