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Pronunciation Guide
HOW TO PRONOUNCE

blank

/blæŋk/

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What does blank mean?

adjective

  1. Free from writing, printing, or marks; having an empty space to be filled in.
  2. (figuratively) Lacking characteristics which give variety; uniform.
  3. Abject; absolute; complete; downright; sheer; utter.
More meanings (37)

adjective

  1. (figuratively) Without expression, usually because of incomprehension.
  2. Utterly confounded or discomfited.
  3. Empty; void; without result; fruitless; futile.
  4. Devoid of thoughts, memory, or inspiration.
  5. Of ammunition: having propellant but no bullets; unbulleted.
  6. (archaic) White or pale; without colour.

noun

  1. The white spot in the centre of a target; hence (figuratively) the object to which anything is directed or aimed, the range of such aim.
  2. A lot by which nothing is gained; a ticket in a lottery on which no prize is indicated.
  3. A space to be filled in on a form or template.
  4. Provisional words printed in italics (instead of blank spaces) in a bill before Parliament, being matters of practical detail, of which the final form is to be settled in committee.
  5. A document, paper, or form with spaces left blank to be filled in at the pleasure of the person to whom it is given (e.g. a blank charter, ballot, form, contract, etc.), or as the event may determine; a blank form.
  6. An empty form without substance; anything insignificant; nothing at all.
  7. An unprinted leaf of a book.
  8. Blank verse.
  9. Any article of glass on which subsequent processing is required.
  10. The shaved wax ready for placing on a recording machine for making wax records with a stylus.
  11. (figuratively) A vacant space, place, or period; a void.
  12. The ¹ / ₂₃₀₄₀₀ of a grain.
  13. An empty space in one's memory; a forgotten item or memory.
  14. A dash written in place of an omitted letter or word.
  15. The space character; the character resulting from pressing the space bar on a keyboard.
  16. A domino without points on one or both of its divisions.
  17. A tile that can be played as any letter and having a point value of zero.
  18. Ellipsis of blank cartridge.
  19. (figuratively) A sample for a control experiment that does not contain any of the analyte of interest, in order to deliberately produce a non-detection to verify that a detection is distinguishable from it.
  20. (figuratively, slang) Infertile semen.
  21. Used as a substitute for a profanity.
  22. (archaic, historical, obsolete) A small French coin, originally of silver, afterwards of copper, worth 5 deniers; also a silver coin of Henry V current in the parts of France then held by the English, worth about 8 pence.
  23. (obsolete) A nonplus.

verb

  1. To make void; to erase.
  2. (slang) To ignore (a person) deliberately.
  3. To render ineffective by blanketing with turbulent airflow, such as from aircraft wake or reverse thrust.
  4. To prevent from scoring; for example, in a sporting event.
  5. To become blank.
  6. (informal) To experience a temporary lapse of memory; to be temporarily unable to remember a particular fact. (Commonly used in the first person, present progressive tense, and commonly followed by on to create a transitive phrasal verb.)

proper noun

  1. A surname.
  2. (dated) Used as an anonymous placeholder for a person's name.
Wiktionary contributors Wiktionary contributors

Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0

IPA pronunciation

/blæŋk/

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗

Other dictionary pronunciations

/bleɪŋk/
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗

Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.

In the pages of books

See this word in context.

Below this repulsive orifice the face was quite blank to the chin, for the thing had no mouth that I could discover.
Edgar Rice BurroughsThe gods of MarsProject Gutenberg ebook #64
A magic lamp now seemed to be suspended in Maria’s prison, and fairy landscapes flitted round the gloomy walls, late so blank.
Mary WollstonecraftMaria; Or, The Wrongs of WomanProject Gutenberg ebook #134
More book examples (3)
Many people think that a vacation means going off somewhere and stretching out under trees or letting the mind become a blank.
Ralph Albert ParletteThe University of Hard KnocksProject Gutenberg ebook #455
These were vigorous and masculine men, and in a man’s world they were successful men, but intellectually they were all blank cartridges.
H. L. (Henry Louis) MenckenIn Defense of WomenProject Gutenberg ebook #1270
This myth is sung in rhymed blank verse, a fact which is partly responsible for the wealth of names occurring in it.
Charles Hose; William McDougallThe Pagan Tribes of Borneo A Description of Their Physical Moral and Intellectual Condition, with Some Discussion of Their Ethnic RelationsProject Gutenberg ebook #3307