black eye

1. 1.

   a swollen bruise caused by a blow to the eye

   Synonymsshinermouse

   Broaderbruise
2. 2.

   a bad reputation

   “his behavior gave the whole family a black eye”

   Broaderrepute
3. 3.

   an unfortunate happening that hinders or impedes; something that is thwarting or frustrating

   Synonymsreversereversalsetbackblow

   Broaderhappening

   Narrowerwhammy

Questions about black eye

What does black eye mean?

black eye means "a swollen bruise caused by a blow to the eye". That is the primary sense; the word has 3 in total, listed in full on this page.

What is another word for black eye?

Close synonyms include shiner, mouse, reverse, reversal, setback. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is black eye a common word?

black eye is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.