SCINTILLATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does scintillate mean? 

• SCINTILLATE (verb)
  The verb SCINTILLATE has 5 senses:

1. give off

2. reflect brightly

3. emit or reflect light in a flickering manner

4. physics: fluoresce momentarily when struck by a charged particle or high-energy photon

5. be lively or brilliant or exhibit virtuosity

  Familiarity information: SCINTILLATE used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SCINTILLATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they scintillate    ... he / she / it scintillates   
Past simple: scintillated   
Past participle: scintillated   
-ing form: scintillating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Give off

Classified under:

Verbs of raining, snowing, thawing, thundering

Context example:

the substance scintillated sparks and flashes

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)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Reflect brightly

Classified under:

Verbs of raining, snowing, thawing, thundering

Synonyms:

coruscate; scintillate; sparkle

Context example:

Unquarried marble sparkled on the hillside

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 3

Meaning:

Emit or reflect light in a flickering manner

Classified under:

Verbs of raining, snowing, thawing, thundering

Synonyms:

scintillate; twinkle; winkle

Context example:

Does a constellation twinkle more brightly than a single star?

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:

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

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Context example:

the phosphor fluoresced

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 5

Meaning:

Be lively or brilliant or exhibit virtuosity

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

coruscate; scintillate; sparkle

Context example:

his playing coruscated throughout the concert hall

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)

 Context examples 

What struggle there was in him between Nature and Grace in this interval, I cannot tell: only singular gleams scintillated in his eyes, and strange shadows passed over his face.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

His face was stern, the lines of it had grown hard, and yet in his eyes—blue, clear blue this day—there was a strange brilliancy, a bright scintillating light.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

You are scintillating this evening.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He held out his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric point in the dark hollow of his hand.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)