sparkle

English

Etymology

Middle English, from sparken + -le

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /ˈspɑːkl/, X-SAMPA: /"spA:kl/
• (US) IPA: /ˈspɑɹkl/, X-SAMPA: /"spArkl/
• Rhymes: -ɑː(r)kəl
• Homophone: SPARQL

• Audio (UK)

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Noun

sparkle (plural sparkles)

1. A little spark; a scintillation.
2. Brilliance; luster

   the sparkle of a diamond.

Translations

scintillation

• Armenian: կայծ (hy) (kayç)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 閃耀 (cmn), 闪耀 (cmn) (shǎnyào), 閃爍 (cmn), 闪烁 (cmn) (shǎnshuò)

• Italian: scintillio (it), sfavillio (it), effervescenza (vino) (it)

• Portuguese: cintilação (pt)
• Romanian: scânteie (ro)
• Russian: искорка (ru) (ískorka) f
• Spanish: destello (es) m
• Walloon: riglatixhaedje (wa)

brilliance

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 光輝 (cmn), 光辉 (cmn) (guānghuī), 光彩 (cmn) (guāngcǎi)

• Finnish: välke (fi), säihke (fi)
• Italian: lustro (it), splendore (it)

• Portuguese: brilho (pt) m
• Russian: сверкание (ru) (sverkánije) n
• Spanish: brillo (es) m, lustre (es) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

• French: scintiller (fr) (verbe), scintillant (fr) (adjectif)

Verb

sparkle (third-person singular simple present sparkles, present participle sparkling, simple past and past participle sparkled)

1. (intransitive) To emit sparks; to throw off ignited or incandescent particles; to shine as if throwing off sparks; to emit flashes of light; to scintillate; to twinkle; as, the blazing wood sparkles; the stars sparkle.
   • A mantelet upon his shoulder hanging Bretful of rubies red, as fire sparkling. -- Chaucer.
2. (intransitive) To manifest itself by, or as if by, emitting sparks; to glisten; to flash.
   • I see bright honor sparkle through your eyes. --- Milton.
3. (intransitive) To emit little bubbles, as certain kinds of liquors; to effervesce; as, sparkling wine.
4. (transitive) To emit in the form or likeness of sparks.
   • Did sparkle forth great light. -- Spenser
5. (transitive, obsolete) To disperse.
   • The Landgrave hath sparkled his army without any further enterprise. --State Papers.
6. (transitive, obsolete) To scatter on or over.

Synonyms

The terms below need to be checked and allocated to the definitions (senses) of the headword above. Each term should appear in the sense for which it is appropriate. Use the template {{sense|"gloss"}}, substituting a short version of the definition for "gloss".

• (3): shine, glisten, scintillate, radiate, coruscate, glitter, twinkle

Translations

to emit sparks

• Quechua: achikyay (qu)

• Russian: искриться (ru) (iskrítʹsja)

References

• sparkle in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.