click

KLIK/klɪk/

Verbclicks, clicking, clicked

Noun pluralclicks

22 meanings of click

Practice

1
press a mouseverbtransitive or intransitive
To press and release a button on a computer mouse, or tap a link or icon, to select something on a screen, open it, or move through a website or app.
Click the icon to launch the program.
He clicked the left button to confirm the order.
UsageClick or click on a link or icon; you can also click the mouse button itself. Double-click means two quick clicks.
2
one mouse pressnouncountable
An act of pressing a mouse button or tapping a link or icon, especially one counted when people open online content or an ad.
The advertiser pays fifty cents for every click, so the team tracks the numbers closely.
The app counts every click a visitor makes on the page.
UsageOften a click on a link or ad. At the click of a button means very quickly and easily.
Note
In interface design a click is one press and release of the button, with the pointer held still; what the program does next is a separate matter. That is why a click can be made and still fail: the hardware moved, but the software never registered it. It is the noun behind the mouse-button verb, and the unit that advertisers and site owners count.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
A mouse click involves pressing and releasing the button. The program's response is distinct from that input action. learn.microsoft.com
A physical button press need not result in a click event being registered. w3.org
Advertisers count clicks. support.google.com
Site owners can measure and count link clicks. support.google.com
3
nouncountable
A short, sharp, fairly high sound, like the one made when a switch, latch, or lock operates, or the act of making this sound.
The lock closed with a satisfying click.
A faint click told her the latch had finally caught.
UsageSomething shuts or locks with a click; a switch or lock gives a click, and you hear a click.
Note
It names one contained sound, not a rattle. A key turns in a lock, or in Virginia Woolf's Jacob's Room (1922) a lamp is put out and all that marks it is a click in the front sitting-room.
4
verbintransitive
To make a short, sharp sound, or a series of light, regular sounds like a ticking clock.
Her heels clicked against the marble floor.
Mechanical keyboards click with every keystroke.
UsageOften with a word for the result: a lock clicks shut, a door clicks open; heels click on or against the floor.
Similarsnap
Note
Arthur Conan Doyle's When the World Screamed has cameras clicking round the narrator "like crickets in a field".
5
speech soundnouncountable
A speech sound produced by drawing air inward, formed by combining a velar or uvular closure with another closure in the mouth.
The name Xhosa itself begins with a click, which many English speakers find hard to pronounce.
Linguists transcribe each click with its own distinct symbol.
Note
Phoneticians also call it a click consonant. Ingressive means the air is drawn inward rather than pushed out, producing a sharp suction sound when the front closure releases. English uses one as a comment rather than a word-builder: the disapproving tsk is a click. In the Khoisan and Nguni languages, such sounds are ordinary consonants inside words.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
The sound is also called a click consonant. en.wikipedia.org
Ingressive describes inward airflow. en.wikipedia.org
Releasing the front closure produces the suction sound. roa.rutgers.edu
The English tsk sound is a click. en.wiktionary.org
Click sounds function as consonants in Khoisan and Nguni languages. en.wikipedia.org

Less common meanings

6
verbtransitive
To cause something to make a click, especially by operating a switch, latch or similar part.
She clicked the lid shut with one finger.
Click the latch firmly to lock the gate.
UsageThe object makes the sound, often with a word for the result: click the lid shut, click a bolt back, click a switch on.
Similarflick, press
Note
Its usual objects are latches, bolts, lids and switches, parts that snap into place. Tennyson's milkmaids click the latch, and in Thackeray's Vanity Fair a bolt is clicked back.
7
get alongverbintransitive
To get along well, especially right from the start.
They clicked the moment they met at the conference.
Some colleagues just click, while others never warm to each other.
UsageTwo people click, or one clicks with another; often just clicked or clicked right away.
Similarbond, gel, connect
Oppositeclash
Note
The with-construction appears in Thomas Burke's Nights in London, where young men stroll the parade until they "click" with one of the "birds". There it means pairing off romantically. Today it covers friendship just as easily: we just clicked and have been best friends ever since.
8
make senseverbintransitive
To become understandable all at once.
After hours of practice, the technique suddenly clicked.
Concepts click faster when you connect them to real life.
UsageThe subject is the idea or it, not the person: it finally clicked, or the math clicked for her.
Similarregister
Note
The image is of an idea falling into place with an almost audible snap.
9
interjection
Represents the brief, sharp sound made by a switch, button, or similar mechanism.
Click! The handcuffs snapped shut around his wrist.
She pressed the switch. Click. The room went dark.
10
dolphin callnouncountable
A short, sharp vocal sound produced by a dolphin.
The trainer recognized each click the dolphin made.
A sudden click came from the pod swimming nearby.
11
verbBritishtransitive
To snap one's fingers, making a sharp sound.
The teacher clicked her fingers twice, and the whole class turned to look at her.
Many people think it is rude to click your fingers at a waiter to get his attention.
UsageUsually click your fingers, or click your fingers at someone to get attention, which can seem rude.
Similarsnap
12
nounBritishcountable
The act of snapping one's fingers, producing a sharp sound.
A single click of her fingers brought the noisy room to silence.
He summoned the waiter with a casual click.
UsageUsually a click of your fingers; many speakers say a snap of the fingers instead.
Similarsnap
13
take a photoverbIndiatransitive
To take a photograph using a camera.
He clicked several shots of the old building from across the street.
Tourists click photos of the monument all day long.
UsageThe photo is the object: click a photo or click a picture of someone. Elsewhere people usually take a photo.
Similarsnap, shoot, take
14
kilometernoun
Alternative spelling of klick, meaning a kilometer or kilometers per hour, especially in military slang.
The soldiers reported that the target was twelve clicks out.
After one more click the road finally turned to pavement.
UsageCounted like a unit: five clicks north, twelve clicks out. For speed it is usually plural.
15
become a hitverbIndiaintransitive
To succeed or become popular, especially suddenly or for the first time, as a performer, film, or product does.
The band clicked overnight when their song hit the radio.
New writers sometimes click with a single lucky break.
UsageUsually a film, song or career clicks, often at the box office, when it finally takes off.
Note
Indian English uses the verb for a breakthrough, often a first one: a career clicks when it finally takes off, and a film clicks when it draws crowds to the box office.
16
nounobsoleteUK
A knock or blow, such as a punch or strike.
Note
A blow in obsolete British slang: in Richard Graves's The Spiritual Quixote, an angry tinker gives a rival "a click in the mazard", a knock on the head. The word sits beside kick and cuff in the same passage, the vocabulary of a brawl. Used today, it would be heard as the sound rather than the blow.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
Click meant a blow in obsolete British slang. en.wiktionary.org
Richard Graves wrote The Spiritual Quixote. openlibrary.org
The narrator describes an angry tinker striking Tugwell, who has been taking amorous liberties with the tinker's companion, using the quoted wording. en.wiktionary.org
Mazard means head or skull, so the phrase describes a knock on the head. en.wiktionary.org
Kick and cuff occur in the same passage. en.wiktionary.org
17
snatchverbobsolete
To snatch: to seize or grab something suddenly.
‘I take 'em to prevent abuses,’ Cants he, and then the Crucifix And Chalice from the Altar clicks.
1716, Thomas Ward, England's Reformation
Note
A different word altogether, despite the spelling: Middle English cleken, a variant of clechen, "to grab", and perhaps related to clutch. Thomas Ward's England's Reformation has a looter who clicks the crucifix and chalice from the altar. The sense is quick, greedy taking. It is long obsolete, and a modern reader would hear only the sound.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
The snatching verb has a separate etymology: Middle English cleken, a variant of clechen meaning ‘to grab’. en.wiktionary.org
The verb may be related to clutch. en.wiktionary.org
Thomas Ward wrote England’s Reformation. en.wikipedia.org
The poem depicts someone taking the crucifix and chalice from the altar, using clicks for the action. en.wiktionary.org
18
noun
A small catch, such as the pawl of a ratchet, that drops between the teeth of a wheel to stop it running backward.
19
noun
A contortion of a limb at the joint, performed as a move in vogue dancing.
20
noundialectalUK
The latch of a door: the catch that holds it closed.
21
noun
A type of throw, used in wrestling and similar grappling sports.
22
noun
A pawl or similar catch used in a mechanism to hold a moving part in place.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of click apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 1–13, 15–16

First recorded in the 1500s, this word imitates the 'click' sound, much like Middle Dutch clicken, Danish klikke, and Swedish klicka, all meaning 'to click.'

Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

The sound word is first recorded in the 1500s and is imitative; Wiktionary compares Middle Dutch clicken, Danish klikke and Swedish klicka, with the stated click meanings. en.wiktionary.org

Meaning 17

Possibly goes back to Old English *clēċan or *clǣċan, byforms of clyċċan ('to clutch'). Middle English had cleken, which was a variant of clechen ('to grab').