What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Wink vs Flutter - What's the difference?

wink | flutter |

In intransitive terms the difference between wink and flutter

is that wink is to be dim and flicker while flutter is of a winged animal: to flap the wings without flying; to fly with a light flapping of the wings.

In transitive terms the difference between wink and flutter

is that wink is to send an indication of agreement by winking while flutter is to drive into disorder; to throw into confusion.

As verbs the difference between wink and flutter

is that wink is to close one's eyes while flutter is to flap or wave quickly but irregularly.

As nouns the difference between wink and flutter

is that wink is an act of winking (a blinking of only one eye), or a message sent by winking while flutter is the act of fluttering; quick and irregular motion.

wink

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • (obsolete) To close one's eyes.
  • * Shakespeare
  • I will wink , so shall the day seem night.
  • * Tillotson
  • They are not blind, but they wink .
  • (archaic) To turn a blind eye.
  • *, New York Review of Books, 2001, p.51:
  • Some trot about to bear false witness, and say anything for money; and though judges know of it, yet for a bribe they wink at it, and suffer false contracts to prevail against equity.
  • * Herbert
  • And yet, as though he knew it not, / His knowledge winks , and lets his humours reign.
  • * John Locke
  • Obstinacy can not be winked at, but must be subdued.
  • (intransitive) To blink with only one eye as a message, signal, or suggestion.
  • He winked at me.
    She winked her eye.
  • To twinkle.
  • To be dim and flicker.
  • The light winks .
  • To send an indication of agreement by winking.
  • Noun

    (en noun)
  • An act of winking (a blinking of only one eye), or a message sent by winking.
  • A brief time; an instant.
  • A brief period of sleep; especially forty winks.
  • * 1919 ,
  • I couldn't bear to leave him where he is. I shouldn't sleep a wink for thinking of him.
  • A disc used in the game of tiddlywinks.
  • Derived terms

    * nudge nudge wink wink * wink murder

    flutter

    English

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (lb) To flap or wave quickly but irregularly.
  • :
  • *
  • *:Long after his cigar burnt bitter, he sat with eyes fixed on the blaze. When the flames at last began to flicker and subside, his lids fluttered , then drooped?; but he had lost all reckoning of time when he opened them again to find Miss Erroll in furs and ball-gown kneeling on the hearth.
  • (lb) Of a winged animal: to flap the wings without flying; to fly with a light flapping of the wings.
  • *1900 , , (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz)
  • *:Banks of gorgeous flowers were on every hand, and birds with rare and brilliant plumage sang and fluttered in the trees and bushes.
  • (lb) To cause something to flap.
  • :
  • (lb) To drive into disorder; to throw into confusion.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:Like an eagle in a dovecote, I / Fluttered your Volscians in Corioli.
  • Noun

    (wikipedia flutter) (en noun)
  • The act of fluttering; quick and irregular motion.
  • the flutter of a fan
  • * Milnes
  • the chirp and flutter of some single bird
  • A state of agitation.
  • (Alexander Pope)
  • * (Henry James)
  • Their visitor was an issue - at least to the imagination, and they arrived finally, under provocation, at intensities of flutter in which they felt themselves so compromised by his hoverings that they could only consider with relief the fact of nobody's knowing.
  • An abnormal rapid pulsation of the heart.
  • (British) A small bet or risky investment.
  • * 1915 : , Ch. 93
  • "Oh, by the way, I heard of a rather good thing today, New Kleinfonteins; it's a gold mine in Rhodesia. If you'd like to have a flutter you might make a bit."
  • * So with his victory odds currently at 14/1 or 3/1 for the podium, he's still most certainly well worth a flutter ... - Gray Matter: How will Schu do?
  • The rapid variation of signal parameters, such as amplitude, phase, and frequency.
  • Derived terms

    * flutter in the dovecote * flutterby