wink at

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to silently approve or knowingly overlook something improper

   Prepositional verb · Inseparable

   wink at something

   Usage: At introduces misconduct knowingly overlooked; this figurative use means tolerate, not make an eye gesture.

   The supervisor would wink at minor rule-breaking when production was busy.

   Sources and attribution

   OpenAI Codex authors; independent AI editorial review recorded in the corpus review archive. — Original project editorial material; cleared for The Missing Workbook

   • The Missing Workbook: original construction review

   The supervisor would wink at minor rule-breaking when production was busy.

Topics

External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary