glisten
Americanverb (used without object)
-
glistens,
present (3rd person singular)
-
glistened,
past participle, past
-
glistening
present participle
noun
verb
-
(of a wet or glossy surface) to gleam by reflecting light
wet leaves glisten in the sunlight
-
(of light) to reflect with brightness
the sunlight glistens on wet leaves
noun
Synonym Usage
Glisten, shimmer, sparkle refer to different ways in which light is reflected from surfaces. Glisten refers to a lustrous light, as from something sleek or wet, or it may refer to myriads of tiny gleams reflected from small surfaces: Wet fur glistens. Snow glistens in the sunlight. Shimmer refers to the changing play of light on a (generally moving) surface, as of water or silk: Moonbeams shimmer on water. Silk shimmers in a high light. To sparkle is to give off sparks or small ignited particles, or to send forth small but brilliant gleams, sometimes by reflection: A diamond sparkles with numerous points of light.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
glistensimple
-
glistenssimple
-
have glistenedperfect
-
has glistenedperfect
-
am glisteningprogressive
-
are glisteningprogressive
-
is glisteningprogressive
-
have been glisteningperfect progressive
-
has been glisteningperfect progressive
Past
-
glistenedsimple
-
had glistenedperfect
-
was glisteningprogressive
-
were glisteningprogressive
-
had been glisteningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of glisten
First recorded before 1000; Middle English glis(t)nen (verb), Old English glisnian, derivative of glisian “to glitter; ” see -en 1
Explanation
Glisten is a verb meaning that something looks shiny, like it's wet. Rocks on the beach glisten in the sun. And your sister’s prom dress, covered in sequins, no doubt will glisten under the disco ball. The word glisten can also be used metaphorically. After you tossed and turned throughout the night, in the morning, you could see the perfect solution glisten right in front of you. As a noun, a glisten is a bright shine. When you are driving into the setting sun, the glisten of the sun on the hood of the car makes it hard to see.
Vocabulary lists containing glisten
Unit 1: Telling Details
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"Everyday Use" by Alice Walker
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Christmas Carol Vocab: A Lyrical Lexicon
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Under the glow of fluorescent lights at Seafood City market in North Hills, packages of pre-made adobo, salted shrimp fry and and dried anchovies glisten in meat coolers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 23, 2025
Silver pearls glisten on the men’s foreheads and their eyes are sunken deep in their pale faces, framed in a stubble of beard.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 7, 2025
This is where the dip starts to glisten.
From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2025
At fish counters across Long Island, imported salmon fillets glisten in greater profusion than local mackerel and black sea bass.
From New York Times ● Apr. 23, 2024
I caught a glisten of perspiration on Mr. Saboe’s upper lip.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
"In the sunlight, the horse glistens" thanks to its "fine, hollow-core hair, which reflects light differently."
From Barron's ● Jun. 5, 2026
The morning frost glistens, and—in a clever device—the low sun glimmers through a row of unseen, leafless trees behind the artist, casting crisscrossing, rhythmic shadows on the furrows.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 24, 2025
A midday sun glistens across the vaulted glass roof of this century-old exhibition hall in the heart of the city.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2024
The toppings may also be pizzalike, as in the model that glistens with a fire engine-red layer of Calabrian chile butter.
From New York Times ● Apr. 19, 2022
It glistens on the trophy in his hands.
From "Landscape with Invisible Hand" by M.T. Anderson
I sat at my final breakfast, a perfect double espresso breathed its steam, the bread still warm, the smear glistened and pooled in the nooks.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2025
Sweat glistened on his head and pooled on his undershirt.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2024
As the boat pulled out of Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn, schools of juvenile menhaden, or peanut bunker, glistened at the edges of the inlet, as though to highlight her point.
From Slate ● Feb. 4, 2024
As a familiar feral atmosphere gripped Rodney Parade and the tinfoil replica FA Cup trophies glistened under floodlit skies, it felt like another shock was brewing in Newport.
From BBC ● Jan. 28, 2024
A single tear glistened in Curtis Rathbone’s eye.
From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
But instead of helming “Troy,” starring a glistening Brad Pitt as Achilles, Nolan embarked on a genre-shifting Batman trilogy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
From his office overlooking the glistening waterway, the third generation fish merchant gestures to the horizon.
From BBC ● Apr. 12, 2026
Flanking a stage near the monorail station, you’ll find a glistening white tower, the work of artist and activist Nikkolas Smith, who has adopted the term “artivist.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 11, 2026
In the brutal terrain of female cliques, beauty remains a potent, if unreliable, weapon — one which Amos, her grin a glistening pink, wryly acknowledges and critiques.
From Salon ● Feb. 19, 2026
But as the yellow eyes got closer, George could see the outline of a huge cat, with two glistening fangs.
From "I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912" by Lauren Tarshis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
