Sparkle

//ˈspɑː.kəl// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A little spark; a scintillation. countable, uncountable

    "As sparckles from the Anduile vse to fly, / When heauie hammers on the wedge are swaid"

  2. 2
    the quality of shining with a bright reflected light wordnet
  3. 3
    Brilliance; luster. countable, uncountable

    "the sparkle of a diamond"

  4. 4
    merriment expressed by a brightness or gleam or animation of countenance wordnet
  5. 5
    Liveliness; vivacity. countable, uncountable

    "the sparkle of his conversation over dinner"

Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    the occurrence of a small flash or spark wordnet
  2. 7
    The quality of being sparkling or fizzy; effervescence. countable, uncountable
Verb
  1. 1
    To emit sparks; to throw off ignited or incandescent particles intransitive

    "The wood was sparkling in the bonfire."

  2. 2
    be lively or brilliant or exhibit virtuosity wordnet
  3. 3
    To shine as if throwing off sparks; to emit flashes of light; to scintillate; to twinkle broadly

    "The stars sparkle in the sky."

  4. 4
    become bubbly or frothy or foaming wordnet
  5. 5
    To manifest itself by, or as if by, emitting sparks; to glisten; to flash. intransitive

    "I see bright honour sparkle through your eyes."

Show 6 more definitions
  1. 6
    reflect brightly wordnet
  2. 7
    To emit little bubbles, as certain kinds of liquors; to effervesce intransitive

    "sparkling wine"

  3. 8
    emit or produce sparks wordnet
  4. 9
    To emit in the form or likeness of sparks. transitive

    "That the bright glister of their beames cleare / Did sparckle forth great light, and glorious did appeare."

  5. 10
    To disperse. obsolete, transitive
  6. 11
    To scatter on or over. obsolete, transitive

Synonyms

All synonyms
glittercoruscatescintillateshinesparkanimation

Example

More examples

"I count the sparkle of constellations to foretell the future of my love."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English sparkel, sparkle, sparcle, equivalent to spark + -le (diminutive suffix). In some modern uses deverbal from etymology 2 below.

Etymology 2

From Middle English sparklen, sperclen, equivalent to spark + -le (frequentative verb). Cognate with West Frisian sparkelje (“to sparkle”), Dutch sparkelen (“to sparkle”).

Related phrases

sea sparklesparkle upsparkling water

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.