- a variation of lehr.
leer
1 Americanverb (used without object)
-
leers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
leered,
past participle, past
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leering
present participle
noun
-
leers
plural
adjective
-
having no burden or load.
-
faint for lack of food; hungry.
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
leersimple
-
leerssimple
-
have leeredperfect
-
has leeredperfect
-
am leeringprogressive
-
are leeringprogressive
-
is leeringprogressive
-
have been leeringperfect progressive
-
has been leeringperfect progressive
Past
-
leeredsimple
-
had leeredperfect
-
was leeringprogressive
-
were leeringprogressive
-
had been leeringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of leer1
First recorded in 1520–30; perhaps verb use of obsolete noun leer “cheek” ( Middle English leor, Old English hlēor; cognate with Old Norse hlȳr (plural))
Origin of leer2
before 1050; Middle English lere, Old English gelǣr; cognate with German leer empty
Explanation
A leer is an unpleasant facial expression. A leer means the person doesn't like you, or even worse, does — in a creepy way. Leer can also be used as a verb, meaning "to look at someone with a suggestive, rude, or contemptuous expression." Your sworn enemy might leer at you whenever you enter a room to express scorn and superiority. Leer derives from the Old English word hleor, meaning "the face or the cheek."
Vocabulary lists containing leer
Where the Red Fern Grows
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Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
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Warriors Don't Cry
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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:
My remarks moved an apoplectic plaintiff’s lawyer to point across the room at his opposing counsel, leer in my direction, and ask, “So are you accusing me of colluding with him?”
From Slate ● Jan. 13, 2026
"Ahhh did Emmy pee her pants?" they leer.
From Salon ● Mar. 26, 2022
He was similarly positive about the film's villain as Lyutsifer Safin, writing: "Rami Malek, with mottled skin, an all-seeing leer, and the caressing voice of a depraved monk, makes him a hypnotic creep."
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2021
Instead, she says, the website hosted two more copies, so hundreds of thousands of people could leer at this most mortifying moment of her life, preserved forever as if in amber.
From New York Times ● Apr. 16, 2021
“Pray,” said I, as the two odious casts with the twitchy leer upon them caught my sight again, “whose likenesses are those?”
From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens
His tenor is white-hot, piercing through the orchestra, threatening to burst into flames as Hades, in his sleazy green leisure suit, leers at Eurydice and stretches the syllables of her name into a sinister design.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 24, 2021
Around the young people forms the winking, condescending conspiracy of gossip, a world that suspects pleasure and leers at beauty.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 26, 2013
He twinkles and leers with commendable grace, introducing his loyal cast of egocentric players as they take the stage to enact the story of love, betrayal and, just possibly, murder.
From New York Times ● Nov. 14, 2012
Mop-wigged Brent Hinkley romps, leers and honks a great Harpo.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 19, 2012
But the leers and hostility from the outside world had soured me on that plan, and the thought of living alone left me cold.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
She has also endured a filming where Donald Trump openly leered at her and another where she seems to suppress a flinch when her own husband touches her knee.
From Salon ● Sep. 4, 2026
Or worse, he leered at it, encouraged it.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 5, 2021
It leered at Bertha and Mabel with a sloppy grin and cloudy blue eyes.
From Nature ● Aug. 28, 2018
It leered from tactically naive Keegan to the European sophisticate Sven-Goran Eriksson.
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2016
And, with that, he shuffled to the edge of the pit and leered down at his helpless prisoners.
From "The Phantom Tollbooth" by Norton Juster
Such discussions helped establish the difference between witnessing as a matter of civic responsibility and leering voyeurism.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026
In the past year, performative masc competitions have appeared across the country, with lesbians — hair slicked back and carabiners dangling from their Carhartt jeans — showing off in front of leering crowds.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 2, 2026
He added it was a "privilege and honour" to be now playing the leering, flamboyant Emcee in "this incredible show".
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2023
“The Idol” is gross and leering in the way the set reports suggested, but it’s also inept in a way that Sam Levinson’s “Euphoria” would not suggest.
From New York Times ● Jun. 30, 2023
Or will there be two waiting black Cadillacs, one with a leering look-alike?
From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
