dazzle
Americanverb (used with object)
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dazzles,
present (3rd person singular)
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dazzled,
past participle, past
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dazzling
present participle
verb (used without object)
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dazzles,
present (3rd person singular)
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dazzled,
past participle, past
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dazzling
present participle
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to shine or reflect brilliantly.
gems dazzling in the sunlight.
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to be overpowered by light.
Her eyes dazzled in the glare.
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to excite admiration by brilliance.
Once one is accustomed to such splendor, it no longer dazzles.
noun
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dazzles
plural
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an act or instance of dazzling.
the dazzle of the spotlights.
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something that dazzles.
verb
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(usually tr) to blind or be blinded partially and temporarily by sudden excessive light
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to amaze, as with brilliance
she was dazzled by his wit
she dazzles in this film
noun
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bright light that dazzles
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bewilderment caused by glamour, brilliance, etc
the dazzle of fame
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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dazzlernoun
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overdazzleverb
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outdazzleverb (used with object)
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undazzledadjective
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undazzlingadjective
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dazzlinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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dazzlesimple
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dazzlessimple
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have dazzledperfect
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has dazzledperfect
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am dazzlingprogressive
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are dazzlingprogressive
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is dazzlingprogressive
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have been dazzlingperfect progressive
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has been dazzlingperfect progressive
Past
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dazzledsimple
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had dazzledperfect
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was dazzlingprogressive
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were dazzlingprogressive
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had been dazzlingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of dazzle
Explanation
To dazzle is to blind someone for a moment with light, like a deer in the headlights. You can also dazzle by impressing people, and not just by wearing a sparkly sequined shirt. Have you ever had a light shine in your face so you couldn't see for a second? You were dazzled. To dazzle is to blind someone in this way. A car's high-beam lights can dazzle other drivers. Looking directly at the sun is a way to dazzle yourself. Dazzling puts you in a daze for a second. Also, anything impressive can dazzle. A great writer dazzles readers. An impressive speaker dazzles listeners. It's like you're blinded by their brilliance.
Vocabulary lists containing dazzle
Selection Vocabulary 2, Unit 2
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"Two Left Feet, Two Left Hands, and Too Left on the Bench"
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Unit 5, Academic Vocabulary
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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:
Hundreds of robotics startups, some just a couple years old, peppered the sprawling convention centre hoping to dazzle.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
Getting investors to look past the dazzle of artificial intelligence and data centers toward ordinary roads, bridges and cell towers is a fairly tall order these days.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026
Fireworks may dazzle crowds with brilliant colors and loud explosions, but new research suggests their effects continue long after the show ends.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 4, 2026
Finally, the Daily Star says English football fans want US-style cheerleaders and half-time shows for the game after being charmed by the American "razzle dazzle" at the World Cup.
From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2026
The dazzle of this fictive childhood—full of swimming pools and orange groves and dissolute, charming show-biz parents—has all but eclipsed the drab original.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
Neat as some of his epigrams are, his characters talk a little too much, and the scenes in which Wilde dazzles some beguiling new historical personage with his repartee are a little too overextended.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
The Hollywood Reporter's Daniel Fienberg noted how "Zendaya still dazzles", but asked "has Sam Levinson's HBO drama aged out of relevance?"
From BBC ● Apr. 10, 2026
On the silver screen, it dazzles like few contemporary science fiction films do, opting for color over the pallid gray verisimilitude that often bogs down its peers.
From Salon ● Mar. 21, 2026
MILAN—Every time American figure skater Ilia Malinin takes the ice, he dazzles fans with his repeated feats of antigravity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 10, 2026
Each is foreshadowed by an earlier century, but dazzles into full prominence in the twentieth.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
I noticed the slight negativity but was mostly dazzled that a man texted immediately after the date to say he liked me.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
But as I sat at MetLife Stadium on Tuesday afternoon watching France dismantle Sweden 3-0, it was hard not to be dazzled.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
Nope, says a crack team of Nomura analysts who dazzled some on social media with a 119-page deep dive into the sector that was published Tuesday.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 1, 2026
A host of A-listers have dazzled locals in Wales in recent days after popping up in parts of the country to take part in a new film.
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
They stopped the whistling and laughing and we followed them into a park with a tall pillar and a statue in the middle and grass so green it dazzled you.
From "Angela's Ashes: A Memoir" by Frank McCourt
It was all so dazzling at the Unisphere.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
Actress Helen Mirren glitters front and centre of the Times, after the 81-year-old "dazzling dame" attended the London premiere of the new series of MobLand.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
GUANGHAN, China—In July 1986, workers at a brick factory in southwestern China were digging for clay when they hit upon something unexpected: dozens of dazzling pieces of jade.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
For many critics, it served as the tantalizing appetizer before the release of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” in 1967, a dazzling entrée if ever there were one.
From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2026
The morning sun was dazzling, and his head hurt.
From "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman
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.
