blur

present singular third person blurs · participle present blurring · participle past blurred · past blurred

1. To make indistinct or hazy, to obscure or dim.

   to blur a photograph (by moving the camera while taking it)

   1 more example

   As we saw in the case of Lukács, it is characteristic of this tradition to blur the distinction between foreseeing the future and creating it.

   1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume III: The Breakdown, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozkład (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 435

   Synonyms: fuzz, pixelate, smooth

2. To smear, stain or smudge.

   to blur a manuscript (by handling it while damp)

   Synonyms: besmear, blot, tarnish, assoil, beclart, bedaub, bedirty, imbrue (especially with blood)

3. intransitiveTo become indistinct.
4. To cause imperfection of vision in; to dim; to darken.

   His eyes are blurred with the lightning's glare.

   1819, Joseph Rodman Drake, The Culprit Fay

5. obsoletetransitiveTo sully; to stain; to blemish, as reputation.

   Sarcasms may eclipse thine own, / But cannot blur my lost renown.

   1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC

   Synonyms: blemish, libel, slander, assassinate, asperse, backbite, badmouth, befoul

6. transitivecomputingTo transfer the input focus away from.

   Then give this box focus to blur the first one: […]

   2003, John Pollock, JavaScript: A Beginner's Guide, Second Edition, page 175

   3 more examples

   These form elements need to have an onFocus event handler to blur the current focus.

   2001, Martin Webb, Michel Plungjan, Keith Drakard, Instant JavaScript, page 678

   Blurring one window and focusing on another window yields the same result of sending the window to the back of the pile.

   2007, Danny Goodman, JavaScript Bible, page 273

   A manual way to blur a text object is to press the Tab key, which advances focus to the next field in order and removes it from the current field (blurring it).

   2010, Chuck Easttom, Advanced JavaScript, page 329

   Synonyms: unfocus

7. copyrightTo use a sign, image, expression, etc. sufficiently close to a trademarked one that it causes confusion between them.

plural blurs

1. countableuncountableA smear, smudge or blot.
2. countableuncountableSomething that appears hazy or indistinct.

   The surroundings went by in a blur.

   2 more examples

   Maccario, it was evident, did not care to take the risk of blundering upon a picket, and a man led them by twisting paths until at last the hacienda rose blackly before them. Appleby could see it dimly, a blur of shadowy buildings with the ridge of roof parapet alone cutting hard and sharp against the clearing sky.

   1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 26, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLC

   The fightback when it came was in the [Roger] Federer fashion: unfussy, filled with classy strokes from the back with perfectly timed interventions at the net that confounded his opponent. The third set passed in a bit of a blur, the fourth, which led to the second tie-break, was the most dramatic of the match.

   2012 June 29, Kevin Mitchell, “Roger Federer back from Wimbledon 2012 brink to beat Julien Benneteau”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 15 Nov 2016

3. uncountableHaziness, blurriness.

   Selectively applying blur to the edges can give the impression of a toy camera or a tilt-shift lens.

   2016, Kat Sloma, Art with an iPhone: A Photographer’s Guide to Creating Altered Realities, Amherst Media, →ISBN

   2 more examples

   Unfortunately, a small artificial pupil also tends to increase the amount of diffraction somewhat, but this increase in blur is considerably smaller than the decrease that results from the control of other factors.

   1978, Stanley Coren, Joan S. Girgus, Seeing Is Deceiving: The Psychology of Visual Illusions, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., →ISBN, page 82

   The second option (right-hand page) features a sharp background and a cyclist who appears as a smudge of blur.

   2014, Albrecht Rissler, Photographic Composition: Principles of Image Design, Rocky Nook, Inc., →ISBN

4. countableobsoleteuncountableA moral stain or blot.

   […]with her raillyng sette a great blurre on myne honesty

   1548, Nicolas Udall, The first tome or volume of the Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the newe testamente

comparative more blur · superlative most blur

1. ManglishSinglishLacking awareness; clueless or confused.

   If a Singaporean gets frustrated at your stupidity, he can scold you for being blur as sotong (clueless as a squid).

   2002 July 22, Hwee Hwee Tan, “A War of Words Over ‘Singlish’”, in Time, archived from the original on 28 Jan 2025

   1 more example

   Even if you don't know, just pretend as if you know-lah Mike. You are embarrassing me you know. If you are so blur like this, how to accept you as my sidekick man?

   2007, Elangovan, P, Singapore, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 47