Blush

/ˈblʌʃ/ · noun

Meaning

An act of blushing; a pink or red glow on the face caused by embarrassment, shame, shyness, love, etc..

Definitions by Sense

1. An act of blushing; a pink or red glow on the face caused by embarrassment, shame, shyness, love, etc.
2. A glow; a flush of colour, especially pink or red.
3. (figuratively) A feeling or appearance of optimism.
4. (uncountable, countable, cosmetics) A cosmetic, frequently a powder, used to redden the cheeks and lips.
5. A color between pink and cream.
6. (chiefly US) Ellipsis of blush wine.
7. (intransitive) To become red or pink in the face (and sometimes experience an associated feeling of warmth), especially due to shyness, love, shame, excitement, or embarrassment.
8. (intransitive, figuratively) To be shy, ashamed, or embarrassed (to do something).

Example Sentences

Why, Warwick, canst thou speak against thy liege, Whom thou obeyed’st thirty and six years, And not bewray thy treason with a blush?

[…] when he perceived her industriously avoiding any explanation, he was contented to remain in ignorance, the rather as he was not without suspicion that there were some circumstances which must have raised her blushes, had she related the whole truth.

Their eyes instantly met, and the cheeks of each were overspread with the deepest blush.

It was a sudden revelation, a tinge like a blush which one tried to check and then, as it spread, one yielded to its expansion […]

And now the rosy blush of morn began to mantle in the east, and soon the rising sun, emerging from amidst golden and purple clouds, shed his blithesome rays on the tin weathercocks of Communipaw.

Each painting consists of a white aluminum disk, sprayed at the edges with a subtle blush of blue, pink or grey.

1974, “April's Fading Carnation,” Time, 9 September, 1974,https://web.archive.org/web/20130813201436/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,904100,00.html The independence ceremony could not keep the blush of April's revolution, when carnations had seemed to sprout from every buttonhole, from fading.

2016, David McKay, “AngloGold to fire up dividend in 2017 as net debt cut a third,” miningmx.com, 15 August, 2016, The weakening of local currencies – in Argentina, Australia and Brazil – gave a blush to the financial numbers. (As a whole, all-in sustaining costs (AISC) improved to an average of $911/oz compared with the $924/oz recorded in the first half of 2015).

Synonyms for blush

Antonyms for blush

Related Words

Word Forms

• blushes
• blushing
• blushed

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

Practice and Learn More

Frequently Asked Questions