Since the concept of compliant mechanisms (CMs) is firstly proposed in late 1980s, it develops rapidly and has become an important branch of modern mechanism community. In the past less than 30 years, dozens of design methodologies and theories for CMs have emerged, which lays a solid foundation on their successful use. With the increasing insight for flexures and CMs, more and more applications of CMs can be found in various fields. After summarizing and comparing the current design methods for flexure-based compliant mechanisms five years ago, the state-of-arts of CMs have been overviewed from the point of application in this paper. Most existing CMs are resorted to three categories, i.e. precision engineering, bionic robotics, and smart structures if considering the difference of their functions and application background. The successful uses, study focuses and even application prospects in each category of CMs are introduced case by case. Afterward, four new types of CMs with great potential applications, i.e. cellular CMs, contact aid CMs, lamina emergent mechanisms, and static balance CMs are illustrated in brief. We hope more scholars all over the world start to study these amazing CMs and industrial personnel pay more attention on the usage of CMs as well after getting the overview of CMs.