Link Centre Dictionary

scintillate

scin·til·late

UK/ˈsɪn.tɪˌleɪt/ US/ˈsɪn.təˌleɪt/ uncommon archaic

verb

1.

give off

  • “the substance scintillated sparks and flashes”
2.

reflect brightly

  • “Unquarried marble sparkled on the hillside”
3.

emit or reflect light in a flickering manner

  • “Does a constellation twinkle more brightly than a single star?”
4.

physics: fluoresce momentarily when struck by a charged particle or high-energy photon

  • “the phosphor fluoresced”
5.

be lively or brilliant or exhibit virtuosity

  • “The musical performance sparkled”
  • “A scintillating conversation”
  • “his playing coruscated throughout the concert hall”

Origin

Borrowed from Latin scintillātus, past participle of scintillāre (“to sparkle, glitter, gleam, flash”), from scintilla (“a spark”).

Related words

Related verbs

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.