Library / English Dictionary

SHINE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: shone   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The quality of being bright and sending out rays of light

Synonyms:

effulgence; radiance; radiancy; refulgence; refulgency; shine

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("shine" is a kind of...):

brightness (the location of a visual perception along a continuum from black to white)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "shine"):

gleam; gleaming; glow; lambency (an appearance of reflected light)

luster; lustre; sheen; shininess (the visual property of something that shines with reflected light)

burnish; gloss; glossiness; polish (the property of being smooth and shiny)

Derivation:

shine (throw or flash the light of (a lamp))

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

shine (be bright by reflecting or casting light)

shiny (having a shiny surface or coating)

shiny (made smooth and bright by or as if by rubbing; reflecting a sheen or glow)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make (a surface) shine

Example:

polish my shoes

Synonyms:

polish; shine; smooth; smoothen

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

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

beautify; embellish; fancify; prettify (make more beautiful)

"Shine" entails doing...:

rub (move over something with pressure)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "shine"):

Simonise; Simonize (polish with wax)

sleek; slick (make slick or smooth)

buff; burnish; furbish (polish and make shiny)

gloss (give a shine or gloss to, usually by rubbing)

Sentence frames:

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

Sentence example:

They shine the glass tubes

Derivation:

shining (the work of making something smooth and shiny by rubbing or waxing it)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Experience a feeling of well-being or happiness, as from good health or an intense emotion

Example:

Her face radiated with happiness

Synonyms:

beam; glow; radiate; shine

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

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

experience; feel (undergo an emotional sensation or be in a particular state of mind)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sense 3

Meaning:

Have a complexion with a strong bright color, such as red or pink

Example:

Her face glowed when she came out of the sauna

Synonyms:

beam; glow; radiate; shine

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

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

appear; look; seem (give a certain impression or have a certain outward aspect)

Sentence frames:

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

Sense 4

Meaning:

Be shiny, as if wet

Example:

His eyes were glistening

Synonyms:

gleam; glint; glisten; glitter; shine

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

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

appear; look; seem (give a certain impression or have a certain outward aspect)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "shine"):

spangle (glitter as if covered with spangles)

shimmer (give off a shimmering reflection, as of silk)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 5

Meaning:

Touch or seem as if touching visually or audibly

Example:

A strange sound struck my ears

Synonyms:

fall; shine; strike

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

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

come about; fall out; go on; hap; happen; occur; pass; pass off; take place (come to pass)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sense 6

Meaning:

Be clear and obvious

Example:

A shining example

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

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

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

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 7

Meaning:

Be distinguished or eminent

Example:

His talent shines

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "shine" 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

Sense 8

Meaning:

Throw or flash the light of (a lamp)

Example:

Shine the light on that window, please

Classified under:

Verbs of raining, snowing, thawing, thundering

Cause:

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

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

shine (the quality of being bright and sending out rays of light)

Sense 9

Meaning:

Emit light; be bright, as of the sun or a light

Example:

The fire beamed on their faces

Synonyms:

beam; shine

Classified under:

Verbs of raining, snowing, thawing, thundering

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "shine"):

burn; glow (shine intensely, as if with heat)

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

blaze (shine brightly and intensively)

flick; flicker (shine unsteadily)

shimmer (shine with a weak or fitful light)

outshine (shine brighter than)

flame; flare (shine with a sudden light)

glare (shine intensely)

beacon (shine like a beacon)

beat down (shine hard)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sentence examples:

Lights shine on the horizon

The horizon is shineing with lights

Derivation:

shine (the quality of being bright and sending out rays of light)

Sense 10

Meaning:

Be bright by reflecting or casting light

Example:

Drive carefully--the wet road reflects

Synonyms:

reflect; shine

Classified under:

Verbs of raining, snowing, thawing, thundering

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

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

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "shine"):

resplend (be resplendent or radiant; to shine brightly)

glare (be sharply reflected)

opalesce (reflect light or colors like an opal)

luminesce (be or become luminescent; exhibit luminescence)

coruscate; scintillate; sparkle (reflect brightly)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sentence example:

The coins shine

Derivation:

shine (the quality of being bright and sending out rays of light)

shiner (something that shines (with emitted or reflected light))

Credits

 Context examples: 

His face was set, and high duty seemed to shine through it; the sight of it gave us courage so that our voices seemed to ring through the little vault.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I was so far in my reflections when, as I have said, a side light began to shine upon the subject from the laboratory table.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The sun shone Dora, and the birds sang Dora.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The stern window was open, for it was a warm night, and you could see the moon shining behind on the ship's wake.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The sun might shine or the clouds might lower, but nothing could appear to me as it had done the day before.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

His little fan of yellow light shone upon a low window.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

His face was shining, his eyes flashing with excitement as he translated into articulate language the speech of the horns and sirens.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Something, an incommunicable vastness of feeling, rose up into his eyes as a light and shone forth.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

These bodies are difficult to study even with powerful telescopes, as they are small, shine very little, and are so far away from Earth.

(Brazil astronomers discover ring around dwarf planet near Pluto, Agência Brasil)

She stood before him, with shining eyes.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)