Library / English Dictionary

SCINTILLATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Be lively or brilliant or exhibit virtuosity

Example:

his playing coruscated throughout the concert hall

Synonyms:

coruscate; scintillate; sparkle

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "scintillate" is one way to...):

be (have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun))

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Derivation:

scintillation (a brilliant display of wit)

Sense 2

Meaning:

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

Example:

the phosphor fluoresced

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Hypernyms (to "scintillate" is one way to...):

fluoresce (exhibit or undergo fluorescence)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

scintillation ((physics) a flash of light that is produced in a phosphor when it absorbs a photon or ionizing particle)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Emit or reflect light in a flickering manner

Example:

Does a constellation twinkle more brightly than a single star?

Synonyms:

scintillate; twinkle; winkle

Classified under:

Verbs of raining, snowing, thawing, thundering

Hypernyms (to "scintillate" is one way to...):

beam; shine (emit light; be bright, as of the sun or a light)

Verb group:

scintillate (give off)

Domain category:

celestial body; heavenly body (natural objects visible in the sky)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

scintilla (a sparkling glittering particle)

scintillant (having brief brilliant points or flashes of light)

scintillation (the twinkling of the stars caused when changes in the density of the earth's atmosphere produce uneven refraction of starlight)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Reflect brightly

Example:

Unquarried marble sparkled on the hillside

Synonyms:

coruscate; scintillate; sparkle

Classified under:

Verbs of raining, snowing, thawing, thundering

Hypernyms (to "scintillate" is one way to...):

reflect; shine (be bright by reflecting or casting light)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

scintillant (having brief brilliant points or flashes of light)

scintillation (the quality of shining with a bright reflected light)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Give off

Example:

the substance scintillated sparks and flashes

Classified under:

Verbs of raining, snowing, thawing, thundering

Hypernyms (to "scintillate" is one way to...):

emit; give off; give out (give off, send forth, or discharge; as of light, heat, or radiation, vapor, etc.)

Verb group:

scintillate; twinkle; winkle (emit or reflect light in a flickering manner)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

scintillation (a rapid change in brightness; a brief spark or flash)

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