Blankly means without expression, emotion, or understanding, like having an empty look on your face. When you stare blankly at someone, your face shows nothing: no confusion, no recognition, no reaction at all. It's the look of someone whose mind has gone somewhere else entirely.

You might stare blankly at the board when a teacher asks a question you don't understand, or look blankly at your friend when they reference a movie you've never seen. Someone might gaze blankly out the window during a long car ride, lost in thought. A character in a story might respond blankly to shocking news, too surprised to show any emotion yet.

The word describes an absence: a blank expression is one with nothing written on it, like a sheet of paper with no words. When someone looks at you blankly, it's as if their face has been temporarily erased. You can't tell what they're thinking or feeling, or whether they're thinking or feeling anything at all. People can look blankly when they're confused, when they're tired, or when they're deliberately hiding their reaction to something.