glimmer
Americannoun
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a faint or unsteady light; gleam.
-
a dim perception; inkling.
verb (used without object)
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to shine faintly or unsteadily; twinkle, shimmer, or flicker.
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to appear faintly or dimly.
verb
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(of a light, candle, etc) to glow faintly or flickeringly
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to be indicated faintly
hope glimmered in his face
noun
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a glow or twinkle of light
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a faint indication
Related Words
See gleam.
Other Word Forms
- glimmeringly adverb
Etymology
Origin of glimmer
1300–50; Middle English glimeren “to gleam”; cognate with German glimmern; compare Old English gleomu “splendor”
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.
“On Wednesday, markets were beginning to show some glimmers of stabilization around software stocks,” Ameriprise Chief Market Strategist Anthony Saglimbene wrote.
From Barron's
But there is a glimmer of something else there.
From Los Angeles Times
The snowy land was ever so flat and uninspiring and went on forever without a glimmer of adventure beckoning over the horizon.
From Literature
I swirled mud in my pan, searching for a glimmer.
From Literature
But for at least a little while, within the confines of San Francisco’s Moscone Center, there was a glimmer of a life in a contest that has seemed largely inert.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
