gleam
Americannoun
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a flash or beam of light.
the gleam of a lantern in the dark.
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a dim or subdued light.
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a brief or slight manifestation or occurrence; trace.
a gleam of hope.
noun
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a small beam or glow of light, esp reflected light
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a brief or dim indication
a gleam of hope
verb
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to send forth or reflect a beam of light
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to appear, esp briefly
intelligence gleamed in his eyes
Usage
What does gleam mean?
A gleam is a flash or flicker of light, as in As Val scrolled through their phone in the dark, the screen projected a gleam of light on their face.
A gleam is also a dim light, such as you might get from a flashlight with a dying battery.
To gleam means to send out a gleam, as in The candle gleamed in the darkness.
To gleam also means to appear quickly and clearly, as a flash of light would.
Example: I love the way this dress gleams in the sun.
Synonym Usage
Gleam, glimmer, beam, ray are terms for a stream of light. Gleam denotes a not very brilliant, intermittent or nondirectional stream of light. Glimmer indicates a nondirectional light that is feeble and unsteady: a faint glimmer of moonlight. Beam usually means a directional, and therefore smaller, stream: the beam from a searchlight. Ray usually implies a still smaller amount of light than a beam, a single line of light: a ray through a pinprick in a window shade.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of gleam
First recorded before 1000; (noun) Middle English glem(e), Old English glǣm; cognate with Old High German gleimo “glowworm”; akin to Old Saxon glīmo “brightness”; (verb) Middle English, derivative of the noun. See glimmer, glimpse
Explanation
A gleam is a bright flash of light. If you were lost on a dark, stormy night, you'd be hugely relieved to see the gleam of a roadside diner's sign up ahead. Use the verb gleam when something is shining as if it were wet or glinting with light. Your new toothpaste might make your teeth so white that they gleam. You can also describe an emotion that appears briefly as a gleam, like a gleam of hope. And as you hatch a plan to toilet-paper the neighbor's yard, mischief might gleam in your eyes.
Vocabulary lists containing gleam
List 9
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Unit 1: Telling Details
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Beowulf vocabulary
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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.
“We’re already, to put it lightly, 12 projects in the hole,” said Gleam Davis, another council member.
From Slate • Oct. 19, 2022
Courtney Bryan’s “White Gleam of Our Bright Star” evokes our spacious skies with a vast cinematic cloud of orchestral chords that explodes and leaves bits and traces of fallout, iridescent sonic dust, in its wake.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 6, 2020
Ball recently signed to Gleam Futures, the talent agency with clients such as YouTube megastars Jim Chapman and Zoella; in the US, male beauty blogger James Charles was named CoverGirl’s first CoverBoy in October.
From The Guardian • Dec. 10, 2016
Gleam is his central business tenet, he explained, noting that his shoes had been shined the day before.
From New York Times • Aug. 27, 2012
Gleam, glēm, v.i. to glow or shine: to flash.—n. a small stream of light: a beam: brightness.—n.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various
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.
