Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Definition: Blur |
BlurNoun1. A hazy or indistinct representation; "it happened so fast it was just a blur"; "he tried to clear his head of the whisky fuzz". Verb1. Become glassy; lose clear vision; "Her eyes glazed over from lack of sleep". 2. To make less distinct or clear: "heat haze blurs the hills.". 3. Make unclear, indistinct, or blurred; "Her remarks confused the debate". 4. Make a smudge on; soil by smudging. 5. Make dim or indistinct; "The drug blurs my vision". 6. Become vague or indistinct; "The distinction between the two theories blurred". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "blur" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Fine Arts | Lack of definition in a negative or positive, caused by misfocusing or by movement of the image during exposure. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Blur is a British rock band, consisting of Damon Albarn (vocals/keyboard), Alex James (bass), Dave Rowntree (drums) and, until 2002, Graham Coxon (guitar).The band was formed in 1989 under the name of "Seymour", which was later changed to their current name during 1990. They achieved modest success with their first two albums, Leisure (1991) and Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993).
The 1994 album Parklife meant the breakthrough of the band, especially in their home country, scoring hits with singles such as "Girls and Boys", and "Parklife" which seems to have been influenced by The Small Faces' "Lazy Sunday". This album sparked the sudden popularity of Brit-pop, which reached its height for Blur with the album The Great Escape ("Country House"). The band became involved in a struggle for most popular Brit-pop band in their country, which was eventually won by Oasis.
Blur, released in 1997, broke with the musical tradition from the previous two albums, focussing more on indie rock. This caused an initial decrease in popularity, although the second single from this album, "Song 2", became a big hit.
In 1999, Blur released 13, an album lyrically dominated by the end of Albarn's relationship with Justine Frischmann of Elastica. The members of Blur also engaged in a variety of side-projects around this time: Coxon made a number of solo albums, Alex James joined actor Keith Allen to form Fat Les, while Albarn contributed to Gorillaz and travelled to Mali on behalf of Oxfam, producing the fundraising album Mali Music.
Tensions between Coxon and the rest of the band escalated during recording sessions in 2002. Coxon was variously reported to have failed to attend recording sessions or to have been shut out of them. He was apparently unhappy at the choice of dance DJ Fatboy Slim as the sessions' producer. After several weeks of rumour and uncertainty, Coxon confirmed that he had been asked to leave the band for reasons connected with his "attitude" at a time when he had given up a heavy alcohol habit. Albarn later told an interviewer that there had been a power struggle between himself and Coxon. The album resulting from the sessions, Think Tank, was released in May 2003 to mostly favourable reviews.
Blur also composed the call-sign that will be used on the Mars spaceprobe Beagle 2 that will land on December 25, 2003.
Discography
- Leisure (1990) and (1991); debut
- Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993)
- Parklife (1994)
- The Great Escape (1995)
- Self-Titled (1997)
- 13 (1999)
- Think Tank (2003)
External Links
- Official Website
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Blur."
Synonyms: BlurSynonyms: fuzz (n), blear (v), confuse (v), dim (v), film over (v), glaze over (v), obscure (v), slur (v), smear (v), smudge (v), smutch (v). (additional references) |
| Antonyms: clarify (v), focus (v). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Blemish | Stain, blot; spot, spottiness; speck, speckle, blur. |
Disrepute | Tarnish, taint, defilement, pollution. stain, blot, spot, blur, stigma, brand, reproach, imputation, slur. |
Uncleanness | Render unclean; Adjective: dirt, dirty; daub, blot, blur, smudge, smutch, soil, smoke, tarnish, slaver, spot, smear; smirch; begrease;dabble, drabble, draggle, daggle; spatter, slubber; besmear; bemire, beslime, begrime, befoul; splash, stain, distain, maculate, sully, pollute, defile, debase, contaminate, taint, leaven; corrupt; (injure); cover with dust; Noun: drabble in the mud; roil. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Blur |
| English words defined with "blur": Blurring ♦ dust. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "blur": COVERING-MACHINE-OPERATOR HELPER ♦ elastic-yarn-twister helper ♦ movement of the image ♦ Open Graphics Library. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "blur": Liturate. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Before I could only see a dark blur, now I can see a light blur (Episode VI: Return of the Jedi; writing credit: Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas.) Instead of a big dark blur, I'm beginning to see a big light blur (Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi; writing credit: George Lucas; Lawrence Kasdan) It's all a blur. I have no energy to write (Platoon; writing credit: Oliver Stone) All your life you live so close to truth it becomes a permanent blur in the corner of your eye. And when something nudges it into outline, it's like being ambushed by a grotesque (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead; writing credit: Tom Stoppard;) | |
Movie/TV Titles | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books | |||
Periodicals |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
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| "Greyhound bluegreen blur" by Jordan Balagot Commentary: "A bluegreen blur of trees whizzing by on the greyhound." | "Light Blur" by Gamaiel Zavala Commentary: "Late night cruise." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Author | Quotation |
Joseph Joubert | Words are like eyeglasses they blur everything that they do not make clear. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | The lights of the truck came on, and they illuminated a little blur of highway ahead, and a strip of desert on either side of the road |
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead | Tom Stoppard | All your life you live so close to the truth, it becomes a permanent blur in the corner of your eye, and when something nudges it into outline it is like being ambushed by a grotesque |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | The blood will blur your vision. (references) | |
As new blood vessels form at the back of the eye, they can bleed (hemorrhage) and blur vision. (references) | ||
Sometimes a part of the natural lens that is not removed during cataract surgery becomes cloudy and may blur your vision. (references) | ||
Business | In some areas cooperation between official and unofficial churches has expanded so as to blur the line between the two. (references) | |
Civil Liberties | China | Coexistence and cooperation between official and unofficial churches in such areas, both Catholic and Protestant, is close enough to blur the line between the two. (references) |
Economic History | Australia | Some argue that they are becoming obsolete, as the distinctions between communications media blur with new developments in information technology. (references) |
South Africa | Specific product groups are difficult to define as rapidly evolving technologies increasingly blur the distinction between data, voice and image mediums. (references) | |
Political Economy | Costa Rica | Party leaders tend to blur these policy and ideological differences. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Blur" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 67.51% of the time. "Blur" is used about 317 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 67.51% | 214 | 20,696 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 26.5% | 84 | 36,109 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 5.36% | 17 | 85,106 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.63% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Total | 100.00% | 317 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "blur": blur out. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "blur": nightmare-blur, rain-blur. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
blur | 1,913 | blur tour | 12 |
blur and lyrics | 205 | blur book | 9 |
blur cruz santa | 73 | blur official site | 9 |
blur tank think | 51 | blur lyrics time | 9 |
blur tab | 40 | fox beacon blur boardshorts | 9 |
blur song 2 | 26 | fox kid beacon blur boardshort | 9 |
blur discography | 22 | blur best of | 9 |
blur song 2 lyrics | 21 | motion blur | 9 |
blur music | 20 | blur photo | 9 |
blur band | 20 | beacon blur boardshorts | 9 |
blur mp3 | 20 | blur boy girl | 8 |
blur video | 18 | coffee and tv blur | 8 |
blur date tour | 17 | blur official | 8 |
blur picture | 16 | kid beacon blur boardshort | 8 |
blur studio | 15 | blur review tank think | 7 |
blur lyrics tank think | 15 | blur index mp3 | 7 |
blur guitar tab | 14 | beat blur crazy lyrics | 6 |
blur boy girl lyrics | 13 | blur ticket | 6 |
blur time | 13 | blur coffee lyrics tv | 6 |
beat blur crazy | 12 | blur tablature | 6 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "blur"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | turbullirë (cloudiness, commotion, fog, tumult, turbidity, turbulence), njollos (bespatter, blacken, blemish, blot, cloud, defile, dye, imbrue, smear, smirch, smudge, splash, splotch, spot, stain, sully), njolloj (blemish, blot, smear, spot, stain, sully, thumb), njollë (blemish, blot, blotch, cloud, discoloration, imputation, Mark, mote, nebula, patch, plash, slur, smear, smirch, smudge, soil, splodge, splotch, spot, stain, stigma, taint), mjegulloj (fog), mjegullim (haze, haziness, nebulosity), fëlliq (bedraggle, besmear, bring in the mire, contaminate, daub, defile, dirty, draggle, foul, mire, pollute, soil), errësoj (adumbrate, becloud, bedim, black out, darken, dim, dusk, eclipse, fog, obfuscate, obscure, overshadow, shadow), avull (exhalation, fume, reek, steam, vapor, vapour). (various references) | |
Arabic | لطخ (bedaub, besmear, blot, blotch, daub, smear, smirch, smudge, smutch, soil, splash, splotch, spot, stain, streak, sully, taint, tarnish), غشى البصر, أصبح غير واضح, شىء ضبابي. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | неясно място, мъгла (brume, exhalation, fog, mirk, murk, vapor, vapour), зацапвам (begrime, smudge), замъглявам (bedim, befog, dim, dull, film, fog, muddy, skim). (various references) | |
Chinese | 迷离, 朦朧 , 混淆 (confuse, mix up, obscure). (various references) | |
Czech | skvrna (blob, blot, blotch, carbuncle, fleck, macula, slur, smear, smirch, smudge, soil, spatter, speck, splash, spot, stain, taint, tarnish), rozmazat (smudge), èmouha. (various references) | |
Dutch | vervagen (fade). (various references) | |
Esperanto | malklariĝi (fade). (various references) | |
Farsi | منظره مه الود, محوکردن (Deface, Efface, Eliminate, Erase, Expunge, Obliterate, Raze, Unbuild, Washout), نامشخص بنظرامدن , لکه (Blob, Blot, Blotch, Dirt, Dot, Freckle, Gall, Glob, Pip, Smear, Smooch, Smudge, Smut, Splotch, Spot, Stain, Taint), لک کردن (Smudge), تیره کردن (Dark, Dim, Fog, Gloom, Mud, Obscure, Overcast, Shade, Tarnish), تیرگی (Fog, Gloom, Muddle, Obscurity). (various references) | |
Finnish | himmenntää (darken, dim, dip the lights, eclipse, obscure, outshine, screen off, stop down). (various references) | |
French | brouiller, bavure, tache (blob, blot, blotch), se brouiller, pâté (blob, blot), flou (blurred, blurring), estomper, embuer. (various references) | |
German | verwischen (cover over, efface, smudge, to smear, wear away), Verschleierung (blurring, cover up, covering up, deception, disguising, spoofing, veiling), verschleiern (cloud, cover up, disguise, fog, to fog, veil), Unklarheit (lack of clarity, obscureness, obscurities, obscurity, sketchiness, uncertainty). (various references) | |
Greek | κηλιδώ (attaint, imbrue), κηλίδα (blemish, blot, macula, moil, mottle, patch, slick, slur, smear, smirch, smudge, smut, speck, speckle, splotch, spot, stain, taint), αμαυρώ, θολούρα (dimness, turbidness). (various references) | |
Hebrew | לעמעם (darken, dim, mute, obscure, overlook, tarnish), לטשטש (besmear, blot, deface, discolour, haze, smudge). (various references) | |
Hungarian | beken (coat, dab, dabble, daub, putty, salve, to anoint, to cream, to muck, to salve, to slather, to smear, to splodge, to splotch, to wash), szégyenfolt (blemish, blot, plague spot, slur, spot, stain), ködösség (fogginess, haziness, mistiness, nebulosity), homályosság (ambiguity, dullness, duskiness, haziness, murkiness, nebulosity, obscurity, opacity, tarnish, turbidity), homály (darkness, dimness, dimwit, gloom, gloominess, mirk, mist, murk, obscureness, obscurity, shade, shades, shadow, twilight), folt (blemish, blob, blot, blotch, cloud, clout, crock, dab, flaw, freckle, gout, mottle, patch, smear, smirch, smudge, speck, speckle, splash, splatter, splodge, splotch, spot, stain, tarnish), elmosódottság (blurring, fogginess), elhomályosít (bedim, dusk, outshine, overcast, tarnish, to adumbrate, to blur, to chill, to eclipse, to efface, to obfuscate, to obscure, to overshadow, to overtop, to throw into the shade). (various references) | |
Indonesian | samar-samar (blurry, cryptic, vague, vaguely), mengaburkan (make something hazy or foggy, obscure), membuat kabur. (various references) | |
Italian | fare confusione (clutter), apparenza confusa, annebbiare (become foggy, cloud, fog, grow dim, mist, obscure). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 潤み (moisture, opacity), 不鮮明 . (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | うるみ (moisture, opacity), ふせんめい. (various references) | |
Korean | 흐림. (various references) | |
Manx | smearey (blemish, smear, smudge, splotch, stain), mee-chummey (asymmetry, deform, deformation, deformity, malform, malformation, misshape), dolley (black out, blot, blot on character, blot out, deface, defacement, erasure, lack), cur kay er (cloud, dim, fog), cummey do-akin. (various references) | |
Norwegian | dimme. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | urblay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | borrão (blob, smear, smudge, splodge, splotch, spot). (various references) | |
Romanian | umbri (adumbrate, cloud, darken, dim, eclipse, obfuscate, screen, shade, worsen), trãsãturi confuze, patã (blemish, blot, breath, dab, flaw, fleck, Mark, patch, slur, smear, smirch, smudge, smut, smutch, soil, spatter, spill, splash, splotch, spot, stain, stigma, taint, tarnish, ulcer), mânji (bedaub, beddable, besmear, besmirch, daub, defile, foul, grime, mess, smirch, soil, stain, sully), estompare, estompa (stump, subdue). (various references) | |
Russian | смазывать (anoint, grease, lubricate, lubricated, oil, salve, smear), расплывшиеся очертания, затуманить, затемнить, пятно (attaint, blemish, blot, blotch, cloud, fleck, imputation, moil, patch, reflection, reflexion, smear, smirch, smudge, soil, spot, spots of, stain, stigma, taint). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | zamagliti (befog, dim, fog, mist), pomutiti (obfuscate, overcloud), nejasni obris. (various references) | |
Spanish | borrón (blob, blot, blurring, slur, splodge, splotch, stain), vaho (fume, haze, mist, steam, vapor, vapour, whiff), manchar (bedaub, befoul, besmirch, blemish, blot, blotch, dapple, daub, defile, dirty, foul, maculate, Mark, smear, smudge, soil, spot, stain, sully, taint, tarnish), mancha (black spot, blemish, blob, blot, blotch, daub, fleck, macula, Mark, patch, slick, smear, smudge, speckle, splash, splodge, splotch, spot, stain, taint), enturbiar (disturb, fog, muddy, puddle, roil), empañarse (dim, falter, tarnish), empañar (fog, mist, steam, swaddle, tarnish), emborronar (blot), difuminar (blear), desdibujarse (fade, fade away, fade out), aspecto borroso. (various references) | |
Swedish | suddighet, sudda ut (blot out, efface, erase, rob out), fläck (blemish, blot, blotch, discoloration, fleck, flick, Mark, mottle, patch, slur, smear, smirch, speck, speckle, splodge, splotch, spot, stain, taint). (various references) | |
Turkish | bulanmak (dim, film over), bulandırmak (cloud, darken, dim, muddy, trouble, turn, upset), bulanıklaştırmak, bulanıklık (cloud, dimness, fog, haze, haziness, indistinctness, Mackle, muddiness, turbidity), bulaştırmak (bedabble, bedaub, besmear, communicate, contaminate, corrupt, daub, dirty, drag, embroil, entangle, imbrue, implicate, infect, involve, inweave, propagate, slush, smear, smudge, splodge, splotch, spread, taint, transmit, twine), mürekkep lekesi (blot, blotch, ink blot, inky spot), lekelenmek (bastardize, be dishonored, be spotted, be stained, become stained, blotch, smudge, spot), lekelemek (asperse, attaint, bastardize, bedaub, befoul, besmirch, blacken, blemish, blot, blotch, brand, breathe upon, cloud, defile, dirty, discolor, discolour, dishonor, fleck, flecker, maculate, mottle, slur, smear, smirch, smudge, smutch, soil, spatter, speckle, splodge, splotch, spot, sprinkle, stain, stigmatize, sully, taint, tarnish), leke (attaint, blemish, blob, blot, blotch, cloud, discoloration, discolouration, fleck, Mackle, macula, maculation, mottle, shame, slur, smear, smirch, soil, splodge, splotch, spot, stain, stigma, taint, tarnish), flu yapmak, donukluk (deadness, dimness, dinginess, dullness, halation, inanimation, opaqueness, tarnish, veiling). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | робити нечітким, вада (blemish, defect, demerit, disfiguration, disfigurement, fault, shortcoming, weakness), згладжувати (efface, iron out, smooth, smooth over), затуманювати (bedim, befog, bemist, blear, fog, mist), заляпувати, ляпка, бруднити (befoul, begrime, bespatter, daub, dirty, discolor, discolour, foul, mess up, muck, muss, smear, smudge, soil, sully), псувати (alloy, bedevil, blemish, blight, break, corrupt, cripple, debase, deface, deform, degrade, deprave, destroy, deteriorate, discount, disfigure, do for, envenom, erode, flaw, make miserable, mess, mismanage, muddle, muff, perish, prejudice, punish, queer, spoil, vitiate, waste), порок (defect, evil, sin, taint, vice, wickedness), потемніння (eclipse, obscuration), помутніння (obfuscation), пляма (blot, blotch, discoloration, discolouration, fleck, macula, maculation, slur, smear, smirch, splash, spot, stain, star, taint). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | trạng thái mập mờ vết mực, dáng mập mờ, cảnh mờ. (various references) | |
Welsh | ystaen (tin), ysmotyn (blob, blotch, spot). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | confudisset, confudisti, confudistis, confudit, confundam, confundamur, confundamus, confundantur, confundar, confundaris, confundas, confundat, confundatur, confunde, confundebat, confundemini, confundens, confundentur, confundere, confunderis, confundet, confundetur, confundimini, confundit, confunditis, confunditur, confundor, confusa, confusi, confusum, confusus. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "blur": blurb, blurbed, blurbing, blurbs, blurred, blurrier, blurriest, blurrily, blurriness, blurrinesses, blurring, blurringly, blurry, blurs, blurt, blurted, blurter, blurters, blurting, blurts. (additional references) | |
Words containing "blur": doublure, doublures. (additional references) | |
| |
"Blur" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: ablur, alur, beur, Bilauri, blar, blarg, blarn, blau, blerk, blir, bloar, blokr, blor, blork, blour, blu, bluf, blug, blun, bluo, blup, blurp, blurr, blury, Blut, Brul, brur, bul, Buur, clur, lru, lur, olur, plur, Uluru. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "blur" (pronounced bler") |
| 2 | -l er" | slur. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: burl. | |
| Words within the letters "b-l-r-u" | |
-1 letter: bur, rub, urb. | |
| Words containing the letters "b-l-r-u" | |
+1 letter: bluer, blurb, blurs, blurt, burls, burly, ruble, slurb. | |
+2 letters: blurbs, blurry, blurts, brulot, brumal, brutal, bugler, bulbar, bulger, bulgur, burble, burbly, burgle, burial, burlap, burled, burler, burley, bursal, butler, labour, labrum, lubber, lubric, lumbar, lumber, rouble, rubble, rubbly, rubles, rumble, rumbly, slurbs, umbral. | |
+3 letters: barbule, blubber, blucher, bludger, bluffer, blunder, blunger, blunter, blurbed, blurred, blurted, blurter, blusher, bluster, boulder, brimful, brulots, brulyie, brulzie, brutely, bubbler, buckler, buglers, builder, buirdly, bulgers, bulgier, bulgurs, bulkier, bullier, bulrush, bulwark, bumbler, bundler, bungler, burbled, burbler, burbles, burghal, burglar, burgled, burgles, burials, burlaps, burlers, burlesk, burleys, burlier, burlily, burling, butlers, butlery, butyral, butyryl, clubber, clumber, crumble, crumbly, curable, curably, doubler, drumble, durable, durably, fabular, fibular, flubber, fumbler, grumble, grumbly, humbler, jumbler, labarum, labours, labrums, lobular, lubbers, lumbars, lumbers, mumbler, nebular, pabular, plumber, puberal, railbus, rebuild, rebuilt, replumb, roubles, rubbled, rubbles, rubella, rubeola, rulable, rumbled, rumbler, rumbles, slubber, slumber, slurban, subalar, suboral, subrule, subtler, tabular, tilbury, trouble, tubular, tumbler, tumbrel, tumbril. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Digital Art 8. Quotations: Familiar | 9. Quotations: Fiction 10. Quotations: Non-fiction 11. Usage Frequency 12. Expressions | 13. Expressions: Internet 14. Translations: Modern 15. Translations: Ancient 16. Derivations | 17. Rhymes 18. Anagrams 19. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.