glimmer
Americannoun
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glimmers
plural
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a faint or unsteady light; gleam.
-
a dim perception; inkling.
verb (used without object)
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glimmers,
present (3rd person singular)
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glimmered,
past participle, past
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glimmering
present participle
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to shine faintly or unsteadily; twinkle, shimmer, or flicker.
-
to appear faintly or dimly.
verb
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(of a light, candle, etc) to glow faintly or flickeringly
-
to be indicated faintly
hope glimmered in his face
noun
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a glow or twinkle of light
-
a faint indication
Synonym Usage
See gleam.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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glimmersimple
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glimmerssimple
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have glimmeredperfect
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has glimmeredperfect
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am glimmeringprogressive
-
are glimmeringprogressive
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is glimmeringprogressive
-
have been glimmeringperfect progressive
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has been glimmeringperfect progressive
Past
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glimmeredsimple
-
had glimmeredperfect
-
was glimmeringprogressive
-
were glimmeringprogressive
-
had been glimmeringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of glimmer
1300–50; Middle English glimeren “to gleam”; cognate with German glimmern; compare Old English gleomu “splendor”
Explanation
A glimmer is a tiny glint of light or the sliver of an idea. Either way, it's a sign of a lot more going on behind the scenes. A glimmer of light is just a little bit of light, maybe sneaking through the curtains enough to make a flicker on the floor. A glimmer of an idea is just a small inkling of an idea. When someone doesn't understand something, you could make them feel worse by saying, "You don't have a glimmer of what I'm talking about, do you?" When it comes to light, you can also say light is glimmering, or gleaming. People often say stars are glimmering.
Vocabulary lists containing glimmer
"Harrison Bergeron"
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"Of Mice and Men"
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "G"
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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:
The announcement has, so far, been met with little enthusiasm in Gaza, though some people told the BBC they saw a glimmer of hope.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
Unfortunately they glimmer only dimly in this staging, which is played to an audience of just 60 seated in rows of chairs in a cleared space on the first floor of the bookstore.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
When prices for previously owned homes hit a record high of $440,600 in June, Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors, said the latest housing data contained a glimmer of positive news.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026
News crews, Venezuelan officials and nearby residents were drawn to a remarkable scene that offered a glimmer of hope amid the country’s otherwise dystopian tableau.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 5, 2026
Standing in the passage, he closed the door gently, and in the process shut off every glimmer of the moonlight, which was all coming from Gebu’s room.
From "The Golden Goblet" by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
Even with higher borrowing costs in the near term, there are some glimmers of improved affordability for home buyers.
From MarketWatch ● May 21, 2026
The party is pointing to some glimmers of hope among these election results, including Westminster and holding on to other councils such as Harlow, Broxbourne, Bexley and Fareham.
From BBC ● May 8, 2026
This “Farm” isn’t lacking for good intentions and, in spots, as with Woody Harrelson’s fine casting as the naïve, loyal horse Boxer, one can see glimmers of what a good adaptation might have been.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2026
Even as graduate hiring shows early glimmers of a rebound, summer internship opportunities appear to be getting scarcer—while competition for them only gets more intense.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026
But so far today, she’d only ever gotten glimmers of seeing her father as he truly was.
From "The School for Whatnots" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Beats hummed, lights glimmered and about 200 young men and women traded emerald-green tiles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
Cumberbatch trends drier, but even as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Strange, he glimmered with comedic depths.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 16, 2025
In a small village further up the beach, Christmas lights glimmered in the dark.
From BBC ● Dec. 21, 2023
The sun glimmered on the sea outside his west-facing windows.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 12, 2023
The street in front of her glimmered menacingly.
From "Breadcrumbs" by Anne Ursu
Despite the glimmering signs of stress on the domestic front, Chinese leaders recently signalled they have no intention of rolling out any major policy easing in the near term.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026
In the closing shot, the words "we belong together" appeared over a sea of bodies dancing beneath glimmering lights at the show.
From BBC ● Jan. 15, 2026
The glimmering rhythm of Martha and the Vandellas’ “Nowhere to Run” sets the tone as visions of cruise culture innocence aim to make us feel as if we’re on a ride through Southern California.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 19, 2025
Antonio Obá’s painting of a monk-like horseman at Mendes Wood DM, his copper-hued cloak glimmering under a turquoise sky while his gaze pierces the viewer, is a small master class in paint-handling and color theory.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 4, 2025
Now he could see the Milky Way, see it as he had never seen it before, a glimmering shroud across the arch of the sky.
From "The Graveyard Book" 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.
