coruscate

English

WOTD – 3 March 2006

The coruscating lights of the aurora borealis

Alternative forms

• corruscate (dated)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin coruscō (“I flash”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɒɹəskeɪt/, /ˈkɔːɹəskeɪt/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• enPR: kôrʹə-skāt, kŏrʹə-skāt

Verb

coruscate (third-person singular simple present coruscates, present participle coruscating, simple past and past participle coruscated)

1. (intransitive) To give off light; to reflect in flashes; to sparkle.

   Synonyms: gleam, glimmer, glisten, glitter, radiate, scintillate, sheen, shine, sparkle, twinkle

2. (intransitive, figurative) To exhibit brilliant technique or style.
   • 1981, A. D. Hope, “His Coy Mistress to Mr. Marvell”, in A Book of Answers‎^[1], archived from the original on 16 July 2021:

     For truth and tenderness do more / Than coruscating metaphor.

Related terms

• coruscation

Translations

to reflect in flashes; to sparkle

• Bulgarian: блестя (bg) (blestja), искря (bg) (iskrja)
• German: funkeln (de)
• Latin: coruscō
• Serbo-Croatian: svjetlucati (sh), iskriti (sh), blještati (sh), bleštati

Anagrams

• accouters, accoutres, cocurates, court case

Italian

Etymology 1

Verb

coruscate

1. inflection of coruscare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

Participle

coruscate f pl

1. feminine plural of coruscato

Anagrams

• stracuoce

Latin

Verb

coruscāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of coruscō