glint
Americannoun
-
glints
plural
verb (used without object)
-
glints,
present (3rd person singular)
-
glinted,
past participle, past
-
glinting
present participle
-
to shine with a glint.
-
to move suddenly; dart.
verb (used with object)
-
glints,
present (3rd person singular)
-
glinted,
past participle, past
-
glinting
present participle
verb
noun
-
a bright gleam or flash
-
brightness or gloss
-
a brief indication
Synonym Usage
See flash.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
glintsimple
-
glintssimple
-
have glintedperfect
-
has glintedperfect
-
am glintingprogressive
-
are glintingprogressive
-
is glintingprogressive
-
have been glintingperfect progressive
-
has been glintingperfect progressive
Past
-
glintedsimple
-
had glintedperfect
-
was glintingprogressive
-
were glintingprogressive
-
had been glintingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of glint
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English glint, variant of obsolete glent; compare Danish glente, Swedish dialect glänta “to glimpse, brighten”
Explanation
A glint is a brief flash or flicker of light. You might enjoy gazing at the glint of light on the water as you lie on the beach in the summer time. You can use the word glint as a noun or a verb: your brother's braces might glint in the afternoon sun, and freshly fallen snow sometimes glints under streetlamps at night. Glint is a Scottish word, first coined in the late 1700s, that comes from the Middle English glenten, "gleam, flash, or glisten." Its ultimate root is Scandinavian, possibly from the same root as the word glass.
Vocabulary lists containing glint
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
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Prisoner B-3087
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A Long Way from Chicago
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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:
If it doesn’t glint in the light, I’m not interested.
From Salon ● Mar. 5, 2026
Netflix’s purchase of WBD would result in a “big market share” he says with a glint in his eye.
From Barron's ● Feb. 4, 2026
Doug feverishly bangs out a script and Griff, who plans to star in the remake, calls it “a masterpiece,” though the demented glint in Mr. Black’s eyes assures us it’s anything but.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 24, 2025
There’s a glint of drama in that Neytiri doesn’t want to risk a custody skirmish with Spider’s biological father.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 16, 2025
She looked at us and there was an evil glint in her eye.
From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
When his camera isn’t woozily circling like a merry-go-round, his edginess glints.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 3, 2026
The furred and the hoofed, the feathered and the chaotically tentacled roam, slither and sometimes howl in “The Animal Kingdom,” an amusing what-if French fantasy with a touch of comedy and some glints of horror.
From New York Times ● Mar. 14, 2024
These glints, or specular reflections, have been observed, for instance, on Saturn's largest moon, Titan, which helped to confirm the moon's large lakes.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 28, 2023
The flowers embossed on the bottle suggest spring, and the pink wine within glints of sunlight.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 30, 2023
But when they got to the main staircase, he saw that the yellow glints were headed downstairs, not up to the deck.
From "I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912" by Lauren Tarshis
Dressed in a layered outfit, Multani’s right wrist glinted with a Kara — an iron bracelet, known as one of five articles of Sikh faith — decorated with Punjabi language script and proudly visible.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 21, 2026
Salmond modernised and professionalised the SNP, ensuring its machinery was overhauled and its message was polished until it glinted like granite in the sun.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2024
On a recent Friday, the ruffled surface of Hood Canal glinted in the sun, while a favorable shoreward breeze kept the ambient temperature exactly perfect.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 10, 2023
Back at the tea room, Chao lifted her teacup to her lips as light glinted off the silver rings that circled her fingers.
From New York Times ● Mar. 20, 2023
The rising sun played across the Bed-Stuy rooftops, glinted against windowpanes, and cast stark shadows down the avenues and walkways.
From "Shadowshaper" by Daniel José Older
The small canvas shows a young woman set on a dark background, her head turned towards the viewer and a pearl earring glinting from beneath her blue and cream turban.
From Barron's ● Jan. 8, 2026
"It's like many, many thousands of rotating, glinting ruffled potato chips, basically," as Venkatesan put it.
From Salon ● Apr. 4, 2025
In these scenes, it’s hard to take your eyes off the glinting McAvoy, who’s like some fiendish juggler of items both benign and dangerous.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2024
New John Deere tractors made their way last week through the sprawling port of Brunswick, Ga., their distinctive green paint glinting in the sunshine.
From New York Times ● Apr. 17, 2024
And there was my grandfather, adding his low baritone in sad, sweet harmony to the music, his long beard glinting in the firelight.
From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly
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.
