glitch

noun

ˈglich

: a usually minor malfunction

a glitch in a spacecraft's fuel cell

also : bug entry 1 sense 2

: a minor problem that causes a temporary setback : snag

: a false or spurious electronic signal

glitchy

ˈgli-chē

adjective

Did you know?

There's a glitch in the etymology of glitch—it may come from the Yiddish glitsh, meaning "slippery place," but that's not certain. Print use of glitch referring to a brief unexpected surge of electrical current dates to the mid-20th century. Astronaut John Glenn, in his 1962 book Into Orbit, felt the need to explain the term to his readers: "Literally, a glitch is a spike or change in voltage in an electrical circuit which takes place when the circuit suddenly has a new load put on it." Today, the word can be used of any minor malfunction or snag. If you’re a gamer you might even take advantage of a glitch that causes something unexpected, and sometimes beneficial, to happen in the game.

Example Sentences

Glitches in the speaker's schedule caused some delays. A technical glitch caused a temporary shutdown.

Recent Examples on the Web Canada's main stock exchange briefly shut down this morning due to a technical glitch.

Alexander Osipovich, WSJ, 1 Nov. 2022 The Department of Elections said the problem was caused by the same technical glitch within the statewide voter registration system that led the department to send 107,000 unprocessed motor voter applications to local offices earlier this month.

Antonio Olivo, Washington Post, 31 Oct. 2022 Election officials said a computer glitch wrongly signaled that ballots about to be given to some Detroit voters at the polls had already been issued as absentee.

Tom Kertscher, Detroit Free Press, 10 Nov. 2022 Election machines at about 60 voting sites in Maricopa County experienced a simple ballot printing glitch.

Sudiksha Kochi, USA TODAY, 9 Nov. 2022 Similarly in Ohio, a statewide glitch caused Powerball machines to fail on Monday.

Steve Mollman, Fortune, 3 Nov. 2022 The version of Dwarf Fortress that looks and sounds more like a game than a DOS-era driver glitch will be unearthed on December 6, the creators and its publisher announced Tuesday.

Kevin Purdy, Ars Technica, 2 Nov. 2022 Trump’s lies, every glitch can be amplified, every mistake blown out of proportion and trumpeted as evidence of a partisan conspiracy — a conspiracy bereft of evidence.

Jim Puzzanghera, BostonGlobe.com, 24 Oct. 2022 Television and film is this opportunity to combine the seen and the unseen, and to create an experience that’s a glitch.

Carrie Battan, The New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2022 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'glitch.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.