Glitter
//ˈɡlɪtɚ// noun, verb
noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A bright, sparkling light; shininess or brilliance. countable, uncountable
"As yet there had been no symptom of the news having any better foundation than in the fears of those who brought it, but The Boot had not been deserted five minutes, when there appeared, coming across the fields, a body of men who, it was easy to see, by the glitter of their arms and ornaments in the sun, and by their orderly and regular mode of advancing."
- 2 the quality of shining with a bright reflected light wordnet
- 3 A shiny, decorative adornment, sometimes sprinkled on glue to make simple artwork. countable, uncountable
- 4 the occurrence of a small flash or spark wordnet
- 5 Glitz. countable, figuratively, uncountable
Verb
- 1 To sparkle with light; to shine with a brilliant and broken light or showy luster; to gleam.
"a glittering sword"
- 2 be shiny, as if wet wordnet
- 3 To be showy, specious, or striking, and hence attractive.
"the glittering scenes of a court"
Example
More examples"The glitter of the sun hurts my eyes."
Etymology
From Middle English gliteren, from Old Norse glitra, from Proto-Germanic *glitrōną (“to glitter”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰley-.
Related phrases
More for "glitter"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.