glowing
Americanadjective
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rich and warm in coloring.
glowing colors.
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showing the radiance of health, excitement, etc..
glowing cheeks.
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warmly favorable or complimentary.
a glowing account of her work.
- Synonyms:
- unstinting, rapturous, enthusiastic, wholehearted, ardent
adjective
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emitting a steady bright light without flames
glowing embers
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warm and rich in colour
the room was decorated in glowing shades of gold and orange
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flushed and rosy, as from exercise or excitement
glowing cheeks
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displaying or indicative of extreme satisfaction, pride, or emotion
he gave a glowing account of his son's achievements
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of glowing
before 1000; Middle English glowynge, Old English glowende. See glow, -ing 2
Explanation
If something is glowing, it's either lit up like a light or it's full of praise and enthusiasm. So, you could receive a glowing candle or a glowing report card. You choose. When a report or account is glowing, it's unreservedly positive, like a book critic's glowing review of a new mystery novel or your grandmother's glowing praise for the good job you did mowing her lawn. Glowing comes from glow, which can mean "a flush of radiant feeling," and which comes from the Old English glowan, "to glow or shine as if red-hot."
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.
The glowing displays extended roughly 500 to 800 kilometers above Earth's surface.
From Science Daily • May 22, 2026
We witness this in the sizzling images of Tory Burch shoes pounding the hot Los Angeles pavement and in the sportswear designs that Otis students worked on for months, the results literally glowing and electric.
From Los Angeles Times • May 15, 2026
Viewed edge-on, the disk resembles a hamburger with a dark center surrounded by glowing layers of dust and gas above and below it.
From Science Daily • May 12, 2026
A glowing Ferris wheel churned nearby, offering a bird’s-eye view of the main stage.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 8, 2026
Now we were crossing the Grote Markt, the walls of the great cathedral glowing a thousand shades of gray in the crystal light.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
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.
