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Showing results for at first blush. Search instead for At+first+blush.
Synonyms

at first blush

Idioms  

  1. Also,. When first seen. For example, At first blush we thought it was an elegant restaurant, but it soon became obvious that it was hardly the place for a special dinner, or At first glance the contract looked just fine. All three phrases date from the 1300s. The noun blush is used with the obsolete meaning “glimpse” or “momentary view” and in this idiom has nothing to do with showing embarrassment. Also see love at first sight.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

This may seem like a paradox at first blush.

From Salon • Apr. 8, 2026

Some hedge funds are shorting shares that at first blush don’t seem very related to the fighting, such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 14, 2026

That such discoveries were made at a cancer center isn't as surprising as it might seem at first blush.

From Science Daily • Jan. 31, 2024

He also brought on two new advisors, one of whom seems odd at first blush but makes perfect sense upon examination: Bob Myers.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 8, 2024

Superstar lawyers and math whizzes and software entrepreneurs appear at first blush to lie outside ordinary experience.

From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.