beaming
Americanadjective
-
radiant; bright.
-
smiling brightly; cheerful.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of beaming
Explanation
If an object is beaming, it's glowing with light, but if a person is beaming, they're more likely to be smiling brightly. Your car's beaming headlights or the beaming eyes of your cat, glowing in the dark, are bright and radiant. That's where the other meaning of beaming, cheerful and bright, comes from. A beaming smile glows and shines with true joy. Beaming comes from the verb beam, "emit rays of light."
Vocabulary lists containing beaming
All Aglow: Light Lingo
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myPerspectives 8.1
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"La Vida Robot" and "Reading, Writing and... Recreation"
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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.
His mother, Tatiana Yantsen, watched him with a sense of alienation from the other beaming parents around her.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
On a double date with her husband and their best friends, Mona, beaming, tells the group that she’s auditioned for “a musical show.”
From Salon ● Oct. 12, 2026
Posters of a beaming Modi line streets across New Delhi to welcome the leaders, with heavy deployments of security forces across the capital and widespread traffic restrictions.
From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026
The second, three minutes later, was stamped right through with class, bringing a beaming smile to the face of Iraola.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
When I saw him beaming, his two large front teeth more visible than ever, I was relieved.
From "Breaking Through" by Francisco Jiménez
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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.