fill in the blank

• fill in the blanks

As a noun, a clipping of fill-in-the-blank question, problem, &c.

fill in the blank (plural fill in the blanks)

1. A language exercise in which one or more words are replaced with a blank line and the reader is tasked with supplying a valid replacement.

   The test consisted of fill-in-the-blank sentences.

   • 2009, Randy Huddleston, Getting to Know God‎, page 43:

     The emphasis on doing the Bible study portion. This is not a fill in the blank with a simple answer from the Bible that “says” what we are looking for.

2. (idiomatic, figuratively) A placeholder allowing for any of a variety of possible answers or a single elicited answer.
   • 2011, Debra Ginsberg, The Neighbors Are Watching: A Novel‎, page 55:

     It was important that she make something memorable. She wanted to be complimented. She wanted people to go home after the party and say, “Wasn't Dorothy's — fill in the blank — amazing?"

• (language exercise): gap fill (UK)

• (language exercise): cloze

fill in the blank (third-person singular simple present fills in the blank, present participle filling in the blank, simple past and past participle filled in the blank)

1. To complete a single fill in the blank question.
2. (idiomatic, figuratively) To complete an interruption, ambiguity, or vagueness in understanding, perception, or context.
   • 2010, George Friedman, Flotillas and the Wars of Public Opinion:

     The Zionists intended to shape the perceptions of a global public with limited interest in or understanding of the issues, filling in the blanks with their own narrative.

• gapfill (UK)