noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A sudden jerking movement. rare
2. 2
   an abrupt spasmodic movement wordnet
3. 3
   A rapid jerky movement of the eye (voluntary or involuntary) from one focus to another.

   "He added the bill with a single saccade of his pulsing eyes."

4. 4
   a rapid, jerky movement of the eyes between positions of rest wordnet
5. 5
   The act of checking a horse quickly with a single strong pull of the reins.

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6. 6
   The sounding of two violin strings together by using a sudden strong pressure of the bow.

Verb

1. 1
   To make a rapid jerking movement to focus elsewhere. intransitive

Synonyms

All synonyms

jerkjerkjerkingjolt

Example

More examples

"He added the bill with a single saccade of his pulsing eyes."

Etymology

From French saccade.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.