Home / Words / glimpseNo. 0169

glimpse

/ɡlɪmps//ɡlɪmps/·noun
a brief, partial look at something before it is gone
Fig. 1 — The curtains are drawn nearly shut, and behind them I can tell there's a whole bright country — a sun, a far-off horizon, more than the gap will ever give.
01Definition

A glimpse is a fragment of seeing — a quick, incomplete look caught in passing, never the whole thing and never for long. You catch a glimpse of a face in a crowd, of the sea between two buildings, of an idea before it slips away. The word insists on brevity and partiality at once: what a glimpse gives you is real but unfinished, a sliver you have to guess the rest from. As a verb, to glimpse is to see for exactly that instant and no longer.

02In use
  • iThrough the closing doors she caught a glimpse of the platform before the train pulled away.
  • iiThe film offers only a glimpse of a world that is already ephemeral, vanishing as fast as it is filmed.
  • iiiA good introduction gives the reader a glimpse of the argument without letting the main point linger unexplained.
03Collocations
  • catch a glimpse of
  • a fleeting glimpse
  • a rare glimpse
  • offer a glimpse into
  • a brief glimpse

Family glimpse (verb) · glimpsed (adjective)

04Relations

=glance, peek, flash, sighting, look

≠gaze, stare

06TOEFL & IELTS

Most often a noun in the fixed phrase 'catch a glimpse of'. In IELTS Speaking it is a natural upgrade for 'see for a second'; in Writing it works figuratively — 'the data offers a glimpse into future trends'. Don't confuse it with 'glance' (a quick, deliberate look you choose to give): a glimpse is what you happen to catch, often by chance and only for a moment.

07Asked
What is the difference between a glimpse and a glance?
A glance is a look you choose to give — a quick, deliberate turn of the eyes. A glimpse is what you happen to catch, often by chance and only for a moment. Put simply, the glimpse is what the glance sees, but a glimpse can come without any glance at all. You give a glance; you get a glimpse.
What does 'catch a glimpse of' mean?
To see something briefly and partly, usually by chance — 'she caught a glimpse of him through the crowd'. It is the word's most common frame, and the verb matters: you catch or get a glimpse, you do not 'take' one. The scene above is the phrase in motion — curtains cracking open a hand's width, a thin strip caught, then gone.
Is it 'a glimpse of' or 'a glimpse into'?
Both, with a difference. 'A glimpse of' is a brief partial sight of a thing — a glimpse of the sea, of her face. 'A glimpse into' is figurative, a small revealing look at something hidden or complex — a glimpse into his past, into future trends. Use of for the literal look, into for the insight.
Is glimpse a noun or a verb?
Both. The noun is far more common, living in 'catch a glimpse of'. The verb means to see something for that same brief instant — 'she glimpsed a figure in the doorway'. As a verb it takes a direct object with no preposition (glimpse something), while the noun takes of or into (a glimpse of something).
Do you 'catch' or 'take' a glimpse?
Catch or get — never take. You catch a glimpse, you get a glimpse, because a glimpse is something that comes to you, not something you do on purpose. 'Take' belongs to glance ('take a glance') and 'look' ('take a look'), which are deliberate acts. The verb you pick quietly signals whether the seeing was chosen or chanced.
What does a 'fleeting glimpse' mean?
An extra-brief one — 'fleeting' stresses how quickly it passed, so a fleeting glimpse is gone almost before it registers. It is a near-tautology, since a glimpse is already brief, but it adds emphasis and is fully idiomatic. Its cousin 'a rare glimpse' stresses not speed but scarcity: a look at something seldom seen.