- present participle of gleam.
gleaming
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of gleaming
Explanation
Teeth in toothpaste commercials are gleaming. They sparkle when the light hits. When you see this word, think of a bright reflected ray of light, on teeth, on water, or in someone's smiling eyes. A new skyscraper that reflects light might also be described as gleaming. If you are excited to move to a new place, someone might say that your eyes are gleaming with excitement, especially as you view the gleaming wood floors and gleaming freshly-washed windows of your new home. The word has a clean, glittering, sparkly feel to it.
Vocabulary lists containing gleaming
A Long Walk to Water
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The Star-Spangled Banner
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Brown Girl Dreaming
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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.
On her 19th birthday, a ship worker extracted a gleaming pearl from an oyster and placed it into her palm.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2026
Stewart smudged her face with gray makeup, cut a few rips in her least-loved jeans, sliced up a gleaming white cardigan and held up a clipboard that read, “I Am Hungry Help Me!!”
From Salon ● Nov. 2, 2026
Schools built big computer-science departments with gleaming new buildings and technically trained faculty.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 19, 2026
But there’s also been forward progress for the Chargers, who in 2024 opened “The Bolt,” a gleaming, $250-million training center in El Segundo.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2026
It was definitely another submarine, made of gleaming metal.
From "Wolfie & Fly" by Cary Fagan
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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.
