Meaning

1 senses

  1. (idiomatic)To turn a blind eye to (something); to corruptly ignore (some wrongdoing); to pretend not to have seen (something); to signal one's approval of (illicit activities) while maintaining the ability to plausibly deny knowing about it; to tolerate or tacitly encourage (inappropriate, immoral or illegal behavior).

More definitions
  • give one's silent approval to

Examples

82 sentences

  1. Tom winked at Mary.

    Том підморгнув Мері. — deniko

    ruТом подмигнул Мэри. — corvard

    deTom hat Maria zugezwinkert. — Pfirsichbaeumchen

    CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · B2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  2. I winked at Tom.

    Я підморгнув Тому. — deniko

    ruЯ подмигнул Тому. — marafon

    CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · B2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  3. Did you just wink at me?

    CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · B2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  4. Tom saw Mary wink at John.

    Том бачив, як Мері підморгнула Джону. — deniko

    ruТом видел, как Мэри подмигнула Джону. — marafon

    CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · B2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  5. I saw Tom wink at you.

    CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · B2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

Forms

winks at, winking at, winked at, winked at
Base formwink at · to wink at
3rd person singularwinks at
Present participlewinking at
Past simplewinked at
Past participlewinked at

irregular

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theywink at
he, she, itwinks at

Past simpleLesson

all personswinked at

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave winked at
he, she, ithas winked at

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill wink at

Synonyms

1 synonyms
Close in meaning
  • give one's silent approval to:connive at

Lessons for this word

3 lessons

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
wingerwingspanwinkB2winnerA2winniewinning

Dictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.

wink at — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto