wink at
Britishverb
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.
Downing was “adept at switching between the material and the spiritual,” a realist willing to wink at disagreements and who favored “subtlety, sophistication and restraint.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 11, 2026
Think “overdraft-protection polenta” or a “cheap chorizo tostada” — meals that somehow still felt cheffy, like a little wink at your former foodie ambitions.
From Salon ● Dec. 28, 2025
His rendition of Fly Me To the Moon impressed the judges, as did his boyish charm - he showed a cheeky streak when he flashed a mid-song wink at Girls Aloud star Cheryl.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2024
“Lips” is a sly wink at midcentury jazz and exotica, mood music that’s more moving than you might expect.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 1, 2024
She’d send me back home, tell Mom I had a good dinner and a good poop—I have no idea why parents think that’s so important—then wink at me.
From "Out of My Mind" by Sharon M. Draper
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.
