different between scintillate vs glimmer

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?

English

Etymology

From Middle English glimeren, glemeren (“to glimmer”), equivalent to glim (“to shine”) +? -er (frequentative suffix). Cognate with German Low German glimmern (“to glimmer”), German glimmern (“to glimmer”), Danish glimre (“to glimmer”), Swedish glimra (“to glimmer”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??l?m?(?)/
• (US) IPA^(key): /??l?m?/
• Rhymes: -?m?(?)

Noun

glimmer (plural glimmers)

1. A faint light; a dim glow.

   The glimmer of the fireflies was pleasant to watch.

2. A flash of light.
3. A faint or remote possibility.

   A glimmer of hope.

4. (dated) mica

Synonyms

• (flash of light): sparkle, shimmer

Translations

Verb

glimmer (third-person singular simple present glimmers, present participle glimmering, simple past and past participle glimmered)

1. (intransitive) To shine with a faint, unsteady light.

   The fireflies glimmered in the dark.

   the glimmering dawn; a glimmering lamp

Synonyms

• (shine with faint unsteady light): flicker, shimmer, twinkle

Translations

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Derived from glimre (“glitter, glisten, sparkle”). Sense 2 is from German Glimmer. Has also undergone influence from English.

Noun

glimmer m (definite singular glimmeren, uncountable)

1. (literary and formal) magnificence, glitter, tinsel, something that shines

   Rikdommens glimmer

   The tinsel of wealth

2. mica

Synonyms

• (sense 1) glans, prakt, herlighet
• (sense 2) kråkesølv, mica, mikanitt

Derived terms

• glimmerskifer
• Lys glimmer = white mica (literally: "bright mica")

References

• “glimmer” in The Ordnett Dictionary
• “glimmer” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Derived from glimre (“glitter, glisten, sparkle”), with influence from English. The definition is from German Glimmer.

Noun

glimmer m (definite singular glimmeren, uncountable)

1. mica

Synonyms

• kråkesølv, mica, mikanitt

Derived terms

• glimmerskifer
• Lys glimmer = white mica (literally: "bright mica")

References

• “glimmer” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.