invisible ink

Save This Word!

noun

sympathetic ink.

QUIZ

QUIZ YOURSELF ON "IS" VS. "ARE"

"Is" it time for a new quiz? "Are" you ready? Then prove your excellent skills on using "is" vs. "are."

Question 1 of 7

IS and ARE are both forms of which verb?

have

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of invisible ink

First recorded in 1675–85

Words nearby invisible ink

inviscid, invisible, invisible balance, invisible glass, invisible hand, invisible ink, Invisible Man, invisible shadow, invisible spectrum, invision, invitation

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use invisible ink in a sentence

Return fraud has been called the invisible heist—or “de-shopping.”
The Insane $11 Billion Scam at Retailers’ Return Desks|M.L. Nestel|December 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST
No matter what Hitchcock said, what he did was to photograph our fears and make palpable the invisible.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days|David Freeman|December 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Other panelists rallied to the cause of “the invisible woman”—the second and generally anonymous egg donor.
Want Blue Eyes With That Baby?: The Strange New World of Human Reproduction|Eleanor Clift|November 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
They must, in every sense, be cast out—their shame is to be made invisible.
Newsflash: Bill Cosby Is Not Cliff Huxtable|Tim Teeman|November 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST

He was a magician, an invisible teller of tales with the power to make my sides ache without telling a single joke.
When Your Comic Hero Is an Alleged Rapist|Doug McIntyre|November 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
She also practises etching, pen-and-ink drawing, as well as crayon and water-color sketching.
Women in the fine arts, from the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century A.D.|Clara Erskine Clement
Their Chateau en Espagne seemed invisible, as such chateaux usually are; and where it might be found, who was there to tell?
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 60, No. 372, October 1846|Various
And, old ink pot, tuck a horse blanket under my chin, and rub me down with brickbats while I feed!
The Book of Anecdotes and Budget of Fun;|Various
Maype he trinks ret ink gocktails, like de Injuns; maype he trinks Florita Vater, oder golone.
Alec Lloyd, Cowpuncher|Eleanor Gates
Aristide picked it up and began to dance and shake his fist at the invisible police.
The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol|William J. Locke

British Dictionary definitions for invisible ink

invisible ink

noun

a liquid used for writing that does not become visible until it has been treated with chemicals, heat, ultraviolet light, etc

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012