adjective
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glossy or polished; bright
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(of clothes or material) worn to a smooth and glossy state, as by continual rubbing
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of shiny
Explanation
Shiny describes something with a smooth, glossy surface. If you want to see your reflection in the glass table, you'll have to polish it to keep it shiny. Something shiny has a shine, a brightness that comes from reflecting light. Are you into shiny new cars, or shiny diamonds? Or do you like shiny, happy people? Good synonyms are lustrous, sheeny and glossy.
Vocabulary lists containing shiny
Lyrics from "Umbrella" by Rihanna
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"A Suitcase of Seaweed" and "Immigrants Today"
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Let There Be Light: Synonyms for "Bright"
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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:
The court, housed in a shiny glass building on the outskirts of The Hague, employs around 900 staff from 100 nationalities.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
So you might be wondering why I’m already talking about shiny new cards with triple-digit annual fees.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 29, 2026
And now, there's a never-ending stream of posts on Insta and TikTok promoting shiny, natural-looking nails, and detailing how you can get them yourself.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
He sold hot dogs, not some shiny new technology.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
It stood up against the yawning lid, shiny and sharp with a flaring nostril.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
For a while this summer, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were in the doldrums, eclipsed by the shinier lights of surging artificial-intelligence stocks and prediction markets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
Sometimes, the lump becomes a slightly smaller and shinier lump, marginally less ugly than it was on the ground.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026
Gold and silver are physical stores of value that investors can view as a hedge against the U.S. dollar, and both metals have grown shinier as the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate cuts have weakened the dollar.
From Barron's ● Dec. 29, 2025
Ever shivered your way through an icy shower just for the sake of shinier hair?
From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2025
Farther off, the shinier Luna Park cast its orange haze into the dark sky.
From "Shadowshaper" by Daniel José Older
Private credit was the shiniest thing on Wall Street for years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 15, 2026
Today, these centres are the shiniest parts of India's red-hot economy but not everyone has been able to enjoy the boom times as opportunities remain uneven.
From Barron's ● Mar. 8, 2026
He travelled to matches at home and abroad, from the grassroots to the shiniest showcases.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2024
Nacua, a fifth-round pick, was the shiniest diamond in the Rams’ highly productive 2023 draft class.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 8, 2024
She saw that in La Saline the shiniest, healthiest-looking, and best-dressed children go to the church schools.
From "Taste of Salt: A Story of Modern Haiti" by Frances Temple
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
