as in to ignore
to dismiss as of little importance
for too long the school just winked at the young athletes' hooliganism, dismissing it as a case of "boys being boys"
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for wink (at)
Verb
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What can also be said with certainty, however, is that — even ignoring, for one moment, the events that brought him to Chelmsford crown court in Essex, east of London — this is a story of what might have been.—
Stuart James,
New York Times,
6 June 2025 -
The economics are simply too compelling for businesses to ignore: A single AI system can process the workload of dozens of employees at a fraction of the usual labor cost.—
Adam Bowen,
Forbes.com,
5 June 2025
Verb
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But all those terms are — forgive the pun — on the outs.—
Hannah Edgar,
Chicago Tribune,
29 May 2025
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There are no limits to the number of donations per person, though fines will not be forgiven for library items that are lost or damaged.—
Orlando Sentinel Staff,
The Orlando Sentinel,
29 May 2025
Verb
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Ultimately, this creates blind spots that limit innovation and overlook entire categories of opportunity.—
Sindhya Valloppillil,
Forbes.com,
10 June 2025
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In addition to the eight hundred thousand dead, another casualty of the Civil War that’s often overlooked was civil liberties.—
The New Yorker,
New Yorker,
9 June 2025
Verb
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The smaller budget is in part explained by the expiration of one-time spending that came as part of 2023’s more than $70 billion budget that raised spending by nearly 40%.—
Alex Derosier,
Twin Cities,
7 June 2025
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And as one dad recently shared on Reddit, the days of explaining things with talk of storks or other mythical tales are likely over.—
Christian Dashiell,
Parents,
7 June 2025
Verb
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But as cloud spend goes up, the need to justify cost efforts and demonstrate cost avoidance to execs will increase.—
Adrian Bridgwater,
Forbes.com,
6 June 2025
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His breezy accounts betray no anxiety to justify the expense of sending him around the world.—
Caity Weaver,
The Atlantic,
5 June 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Wink (at).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wink%20%28at%29. Accessed 13 Jun. 2025.
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