peek
Other forms: peeked; peeking; peeks
When you peek, you take a quick glance at something. It's incredibly tempting when you're little to peek at your birthday presents, but you soon learn how disappointing it is to spoil the surprise.
A sneaky look at something is a peek. You might peek at someone if you're shy or you don't want them to catch you looking. You can also describe a glance at a part of something as "a peek" — like when you take a peek at a napping child. Peek comes from piken, a 14th century word meaning "look quickly and slyly." Until the 15th century, the word peek was used interchangeably with keek and peep.
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throw a glance at; take a brief look at
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a secret looksynonyms: peep
- MLA
- APA
- Chicago
peak / peek / pique
Vocabulary lists containing peek
Words that sound the same but are spelled differently (a type of homonym) can be stumbling blocks in comprehension or when trying to communicate something in writing. If you know that there's "peek" "peak" and "pique," which one do you use to describe what your character did at the window? If you use the wrong one, then your character has reached the heights (peak) or is having a fit if anger (pique) by the window. Is that what you mean? Is the character simply looking through that window (peek)? As you can see, all these words sound the same but suggest very different things. Here are 32 vocabulary words that are often confused.
Learn the correct meanings and usages of these commonly confused words for fifth-grade students.
The arrival of a stranger who begins painting on a neighborhood wall puzzles the narrator of this story, who feels the wall belongs to the community.