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:
His poems can seem like black crystals; hold them to the light and they glint with ash, Scripture, lovers’ voices and breath.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
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
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
The neighborhood I walk through has a line of houses that look all alike, with cars that glint and shine.
From "King and the Dragonflies" by Kacen Callender
A few of the people, including a man with a camera, stared at the sky, studying the way the smoke rose and shifted, letting in glints of light and then closing again.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 8, 2025
"We could see it was something really exciting as despite more than 1,000 years in the ground we could see glints of the possible garnet setting."
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2024
As she walked, she examined the crowds and remarked when glints of interest caught her eye.
From New York Times ● Jun. 4, 2024
Across our own solar system, scientists can detect the presence of liquid oceans by observing "glints" -- flashes of sunlight that reflect off liquid surfaces.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 28, 2023
It glints, throwing tiny shards of light as I make adjustments to the angle.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
Diver Mags Martin said: "Because we had torches, it glinted in the torchlight."
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2025
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
Its dagger-like fangs glinted in the dim light.
From Slate ● Dec. 24, 2022
Event searchlights crisscrossed the darkened sky, swooping over the table so that bits of light glinted off the wine glass edges.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2022
The sun glinted off the abandoned grocery carts and made them magical, beautiful.
From "Raymie Nightingale" by Kate DiCamillo
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."
From Salon ● Apr. 4, 2025
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
His inch towards 700 wickets has been painstaking over the past year, but the milestone was achieved at a picture-perfect setting, with the sun glinting off the snow-capped Himalayan mountains.
From BBC ● Mar. 9, 2024
It seemed to Shadow that the boy’s eyes were glinting too, the green of an antique computer monitor.
From "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman
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.
