coruscate
Americanverb (used without object)
-
to emit vivid flashes of light; sparkle; scintillate; gleam.
Here was a sapphire, perfectly spherical and over four inches in diameter, that coruscated with a dazzling blue fire.
-
to show spectacular technique or mastery.
His writing coruscates with brilliant poetic flourishes.
The lead player’s coruscating guitar work is a signature feature of many tracks on the album.
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of coruscate
First recorded in 1695–1705; from Latin coruscātus, past participle of coruscāre “to quiver, flash”; see coruscant
Explanation
Coruscate is a verb that means to sparkle or give off reflected flashes of light. Think of the way the little mirrors on a disco ball coruscate as the ball twirls, making the dance floor sparkle. Although coruscate means to glitter with light, you can also use the word, in a less literal way, to refer to someone with such great style or ability that they seem to sparkle. Your best friend's performance in the school play might coruscate with such brilliance that the audience gives her a standing ovation during her curtain call.
Vocabulary lists containing coruscate
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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:
Metallic shards of blue, red, and white light coruscate across the reflective steel and glass backdrop.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 23, 2017
He has deployed witticisms and aphorisms that coruscate with good-natured sophistication.
From Slate ● Mar. 21, 2017
The shadow chancellor stood at the House of Commons despatch box at 13.20 GMT to coruscate Philip Hammond over his Autumn Statement.
From BBC ● Nov. 24, 2016
He admires the centuries-old abbey: O'er this north door a trace still lingers Of how a Gothic craftsman's fingers Could make stones creep like ivy stems And tilings coruscate like gems.
From Time Magazine Archive
Given a dinner-table, with light and color, and somebody occasionally to throw the ball, his spirits would rise and coruscate astonishingly.
From Authors and Friends by Fields, Annie
When Wilhelm Furtwängler and the Berlin Philharmonic coruscated through the Ninth Symphony during World War II, the Germans thought Beethoven was writing for them.
From New York Times ● Mar. 15, 2022
The onion domes and crosses atop the Kremlin's cathedrals and churches coruscated in the winter sunlight, while the renovated brick battlements of the ancient fortress loomed over the elegant imperial palaces, freshly painted in pastels.
From Time Magazine Archive
"Brilliant things coruscated about her face and hair: flashing dollar signs."
From Time Magazine Archive
Its lustrous white satin billowed from the waist into a crinoline that coruscated with flowers of pearls and leaves of gold.
From Time Magazine Archive
A mild cheer coruscated through the crowds worldwide.
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
Snow geese and coruscating tulips draw me to the sloughs and wetlands where the serpentine Skagit River flows into the Salish Sea.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 16, 2023
It concluded a coruscating couple of hours, which started when Adlington's team-mate Rachel Tytler took bronze in the -78kg category in Coventry.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2022
His piano style reflected the coruscating romanticism of Art Tatum, the inventive precision of Powell and the spiky individuality of Monk — who later became Mr. Harris’s longtime housemate.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 10, 2021
But either way, another thumping, fizzing, coruscating clash is on the cards and who ever expected to say that about October international weekend?
From The Guardian ● Oct. 10, 2021
St. John said these words as he pronounced his sermons, with a quiet, deep voice; with an unflushed cheek, and a coruscating radiance of glance.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
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.
