different between glitter vs scintillate

English

Etymology

From Middle English gliteren, from Old Norse glitra, from Proto-Germanic *glitr?n? (“to glitter”), from Proto-Indo-European *??ley-.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /??l?t?(?)/
• (US) IPA^(key): /??l?t?/, [??l???]
• Rhymes: -?t?(r)

Noun

glitter (countable and uncountable, plural glitters)

1. A bright, sparkling light; shininess or brilliance.
   • 1913, Mary Averill, Japanese flower arrangement Chapter 20

     This to them seems most like mother earth in color, and therefore best, as it is, to enhance the beauty of flowers instead of detracting from their exquisite shades. What a contrast to the glitter and show of our silver vases, which represent generally little else but their cost.

   • 1841, Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge Chapter 57

     As yet there had been no symptom of the news having any better foundation than in the fears of those who brought it, but The Boot had not been deserted five minutes, when there appeared, coming across the fields, a body of men who, it was easy to see, by the glitter of their arms and ornaments in the sun, and by their orderly and regular mode of advancing

2. A shiny, decorative adornment, sometimes sprinkled on glue to make simple artwork.
3. (figuratively) Glitz.

Descendants

• ? Portuguese: glitter
• ? Spanish: glitter

Translations

Verb

glitter (third-person singular simple present glitters, present participle glittering, simple past and past participle glittered)

1. To sparkle with light; to shine with a brilliant and broken light or showy luster; to gleam.

   a glittering sword

   the glittering ornaments on a Christmas tree

   • The field yet glitters with the pomp of war.

2. To be showy, specious, or striking, and hence attractive.

   the glittering scenes of a court

Derived terms

• all that glitters is not gold

Translations

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from English glitter.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /??li.te?/

Noun

glitter m (uncountable)

1. glitter (shiny, decorative dust)

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from English glitter.

Noun

glitter m (plural glitteres)

1. glitter

Swedish

Etymology

Probably from Old Norse glitra.

Noun

glitter n (uncountable)

1. glitter; a shiny, decorative adornment

Declension

Related terms

• glittra
• glittrig

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin scintill?tus, past participle of scintill?re (“to sparkle, glitter, gleam, flash”), from scintilla (“a spark”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?s?nt?le?t/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?s?nt?le?t/
• Hyphenation: scin?til?late

Verb

scintillate (third-person singular simple present scintillates, present participle scintillating, simple past and past participle scintillated)

1. (intransitive) To give off sparks; to shine as if emanating sparks; to twinkle or glow.
   1. (astronomy) Of a star or other celestial body: to vary rapidly in brightness; to twinkle.
   2. (nuclear physics) Especially of a phosphor: to emit a flash of light upon absorbing ionizing radiation.
2. (transitive, now rare) To throw off like sparks.
   • 1857, Anthony Trollope, “Mr. Arabin”, in Barchester Towers: In Three Volumes, London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans & Roberts, OCLC 911659634; republished as Barchester Towers. [...] In Two Volumes (Hand and Pocket Library; II), volume I, New York, N.Y.: Dick & Fitzgerald, 18 Ann Street, [1860], OCLC 863553483, page 201:

     As a boy young Arabin took up the cudgels on the side of the Tractarians, and at Oxford he sat for a while at the feet of the great [John Henry] Newman. To this cause he lent all his faculties. For it he concocted verses, for it he made speeches, for it he scintillated the brightest sparks of his quiet wit.

Derived terms

• scintillating (adjective)
• scintillation
• scintillator

Related terms

• scintilla
• stencil
• tinsel

Translations

Further reading

• scintillate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• scintillate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• scintillate at OneLook Dictionary Search

Italian

Verb

scintillate

1. second-person plural present and imperative of scintillare

Latin

Verb

scintill?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of scintill?