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Showing results for draw a blank. Search instead for draws blank.
Definitions

draw a blank

VERB
black out
Synonyms
STRONGEST
lose consciousness pass out
WEAK
collapse crap out go out like a light slip into coma swoon zone out
Antonyms
WEAK
add pencil in resuscitate revive uncover
VERB
disremember
Synonyms
WEAK
be unable to remember fail to recall fail to recollect
VERB
forget
Synonyms
STRONG
obliterate
WEAK
clean forget consign to oblivion dismiss from mind disremember escape one's memory fail to remember let slip from memory lose consciousness of lose sight of misrecollect think no more of unsee
Antonyms
WEAK
carry learn recall recollect remember take

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.

When I draw a blank, I don’t ask it to fill in the gap for me.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 27, 2026

The actor seems to draw a blank, but the camera cuts away before we find out more.

From New York Times • Jan. 19, 2024

This is why, whenever anyone asks me about favorite family dishes, I usually draw a blank and ask if Pepperidge Farm cookies count as a response.

From Salon • Jun. 18, 2023

But where he can remember more and more of his friend Byron — an amateur survivalist whose name the protagonist recalls far earlier than his own — his wife’s face continues to draw a blank.

From Los Angeles Times • May 25, 2022

And in the silence, of course, you can hear a pin drop. draw a blank.

From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner

From Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.