Standard Lemma guide

blurry

adj · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈblɜːɹi/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɜːɹi
  • CMU ARPABET: B L ER1 IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Not clear, crisp, or focused; having fuzzy edges.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • If I take off my glasses, everything close up looks blurry.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Not clear; lacking well-defined boundaries.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: figuratively

Examples

  • It would seem that the line between flirting and sexual harassment has become quite blurry.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective satellite

Meaning 3

indistinct or hazy in outline

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a landscape of blurred outlines
  • the trees were just blurry shapes

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: bleary, blurred, foggy, fuzzy, hazy, muzzy

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English blur Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Germanic *-gaz Proto-West Germanic *-g Old English -iġ Middle English -y English -y English blurry From blur + -y.

Across languages

Translations

62 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Central Bikol: malabog — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Catalan: borrós — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Chinese Mandarin: 模糊 (móhu) — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Chinese Mandarin: 模糊不清 (móhubùqīng) — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Chinese Mandarin: 不清楚 (bùqīngchu) — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Dutch: wazig — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Esperanto: eksterfokusa — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Esperanto: malklara — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Finnish: sumea — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Finnish: epätarkka — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Finnish: epäselvä — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Finnish: samea — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Finnish: hämärä — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • French: flou — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • German: verschwommen — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • German: schwammig — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • German: nebulös — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • German: diffus — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • German: unklar — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • German: unscharf — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Hebrew: מטושטש — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Icelandic: óskýr — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Italian: sfocato — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Kapampangan: malabug — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Kapampangan: malubug — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Khmer: ព្រិលៗ (prĭlprĭl) — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Macedonian: ма́тен (máten) — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Māori: tārehu — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Māori: makaro — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Māori: pūrehurehu — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Māori: pōrehurehu — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Norwegian Bokmål: uskarp — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Norwegian Bokmål: utydelig — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Polish: rozmyty — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Polish: nieostry — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Polish: zamglony — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Polish: rozmazany — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Portuguese: borrado — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Portuguese: desfocado — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Portuguese: embaçado — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Russian: расплы́вчатый (rasplývčatyj) — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Russian: размы́тый (razmýtyj) — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Spanish: borroso — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Spanish: desenfocado — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Spanish: movido — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Swedish: suddig — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Swedish: utflytande — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Swedish: oskarp — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Swedish: oklar — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Tagalog: malabo — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Turkish: bulanık — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Vietnamese: mờ — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Vietnamese: nhoè — not clear, crisp, or focused
  • Chinese Mandarin: 模糊 (móhu) — lacking well-defined boundaries
  • Chinese Mandarin: 模糊不清 (móhubùqīng) — lacking well-defined boundaries
  • Chinese Mandarin: 不清楚 (bùqīngchu) — lacking well-defined boundaries
  • Finnish: epäselvä — lacking well-defined boundaries
  • French: confus — lacking well-defined boundaries
  • German: verschwommen — lacking well-defined boundaries
  • German: undeutlich — lacking well-defined boundaries
  • Spanish: confuso — lacking well-defined boundaries
  • Turkish: bulanık — lacking well-defined boundaries