Library / English Dictionary

FLICKER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of moving back and forth

Synonyms:

flicker; flutter; waver

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("flicker" is a kind of...):

motility; motion; move; movement (a change of position that does not entail a change of location)

Derivation:

flicker (move back and forth very rapidly)

Sense 2

Meaning:

North American woodpecker

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("flicker" is a kind of...):

pecker; peckerwood; woodpecker (bird with strong claws and a stiff tail adapted for climbing and a hard chisel-like bill for boring into wood for insects)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "flicker"):

Colaptes auratus; yellow-shafted flicker; yellowhammer (large flicker of eastern North America with a red neck and yellow undersurface to wings and tail)

Colaptes chrysoides; gilded flicker (southwestern United States bird like the yellow-shafted flicker but lacking the red neck)

Colaptes caper collaris; red-shafted flicker (western United States bird with red undersurface to wings and tail)

Holonyms ("flicker" is a member of...):

Colaptes; genus Colaptes (a genus of Picidae)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A momentary flash of light

Synonyms:

flicker; glint; spark

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("flicker" is a kind of...):

flash (a sudden intense burst of radiant energy)

Derivation:

flicker (flash intermittently)

flicker (shine unsteadily)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Move back and forth very rapidly

Example:

the candle flickered

Synonyms:

flicker; flitter; flutter; quiver; waver

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "flicker" is one way to...):

move back and forth (move in one direction and then into the opposite direction)

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

Derivation:

flicker (the act of moving back and forth)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Flash intermittently

Example:

The lights flicked on and off

Synonyms:

flick; flicker

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Hypernyms (to "flicker" is one way to...):

blink; flash; twinkle; wink; winkle (gleam or glow intermittently)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

flicker (a momentary flash of light)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Shine unsteadily

Example:

The candle flickered

Synonyms:

flick; flicker

Classified under:

Verbs of raining, snowing, thawing, thundering

Hypernyms (to "flicker" is one way to...):

beam; shine (emit light; be bright, as of the sun or a light)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sentence examples:

Lights flicker on the horizon

The horizon is flickering with lights

Derivation:

flicker (a momentary flash of light)

Credits

 Context examples: 

And as they continued to fall upon him, the spark of life within flickered and went down.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

The long sweep of green water roaring forever down, and the thick flickering curtain of spray hissing forever upward, turn a man giddy with their constant whirl and clamour.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He rested wherever he fell, crawled on whenever the dying life in him flickered up and burned less dimly.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Some flickering efforts to spare you the premature knowledge of his calamitous position, you may observe in him this day; but hope has sunk beneath the horizon, and the undersigned is Crushed.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It was a rather pretty little picture, for the sisters sat together in the shady nook, with sun and shadow flickering over them, the aromatic wind lifting their hair and cooling their hot cheeks, and all the little wood people going on with their affairs as if these were no strangers but old friends.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

He did not proceed to attack his mail, and for a half hour he lolled in his chair, doing nothing, while no more than vague, half-formed thoughts occasionally filtered through his intelligence, or rather, at wide intervals, themselves constituted the flickering of his intelligence.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Astronomers use sophisticated algorithms to search the data for these dips in brightness, and in particular, to correct for the spacecraft’s small movements in space—this is the 'flickering' of the pixels seen in the movie.

(Light From An Ultra-Cool Neighbor, NASA)

The researchers compared the newly discovered circuit breaker mechanism to lightning striking a city power grid: Lights may flicker over the whole city, but once the circuit breaker activates, only part of the city loses power.

(Researchers discover mitochondrial “circuit breaker” that protects heart from damage, NIH)

But tonight there was a shudder in his blood; the face of Hyde sat heavy on his memory; he felt (what was rare with him) a nausea and distaste of life; and in the gloom of his spirits, he seemed to read a menace in the flickering of the firelight on the polished cabinets and the uneasy starting of the shadow on the roof.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the forecastle of an emigrant ship.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)