brilliant
Americanadjective
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shining brightly; sparkling; glittering; lustrous.
the brilliant lights of the city.
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distinguished; illustrious.
a brilliant performance by a young pianist.
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having or showing great intelligence, talent, quality, etc..
a brilliant technician.
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strong and clear in tone; vivid; bright.
brilliant blues and greens; the brilliant sound of the trumpets.
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splendid or magnificent.
a brilliant social event.
noun
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Jewelry. a gem, especially a diamond, having any of several varieties of the brilliant cut.
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Printing. a size of type about 3½-point.
adjective
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shining with light; sparkling
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(of a colour) having a high saturation and reflecting a considerable amount of light; vivid
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outstanding; exceptional
a brilliant success
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splendid; magnificent
a brilliant show
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of outstanding intelligence or intellect
a brilliant mind
a brilliant idea
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music
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(of the tone of an instrument) having a large proportion of high harmonics above the fundamental
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Also: brilliant. brilliante. with spirit; lively
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noun
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Also called: brilliant cut.
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a popular circular cut for diamonds and other gemstones in the form of two many-faceted pyramids (the top one truncated) joined at their bases
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a diamond of this cut
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(formerly) a size of a printer's type approximately equal to 4 point
Usage
What does brilliant mean? Brilliant is commonly used to mean extremely intelligent, as in a brilliant mathematician or a brilliant idea. People considered geniuses are often described as brilliant in this way. It can also be used to describe something considered outstanding, exceptional, or magnificent, as in a brilliant performance. In the U. K., brilliant is often used in an informal way to mean excellent or awesome. These senses of brilliant are based on its more general meaning—shining brightly or sparkling. Bright sunshine can be described as brilliant in this way. A very sparkly gem such as a diamond could also be described as brilliant. In fact, the term brilliant cut refers to a type of cut used to increase the sparkliness of gems, especially diamonds. Brilliant can even be used as a noun to refer to such a diamond. Brilliant can also be used to mean vivid or vibrant. This sense of the word is especially used to describe colors and sounds that stand out due to being especially strong and clear. The noun brilliance refers to the quality of someone or something that is brilliant. Example: It was a brilliant performance from a brilliant musical mind.
Synonym Usage
See bright.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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brilliantnessnoun
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unbrilliantnessnoun
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overbrilliantadjective
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quasi-brilliantadjective
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unbrilliantadjective
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brilliantlyadverb
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overbrilliantlyadverb
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quasi-brilliantlyadverb
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unbrilliantlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of brilliant
First recorded in 1675–85; from French brillant “shining,” present participle of briller “to shine,” from Italian brillare, perhaps either ultimately from Latin bēryllus beryl ( def. ) or derivative of an expressive root
Explanation
Brilliant describes something super bright, like intense lights at a football stadium, a super sparkly diamond, or the student who graduates from Harvard at age 13. Brilliant comes from the Italian word brillare, to "sparkle" like those bright lights, diamonds, and brainiac kid. British people love to say things are "Brilliant!" in the same way Americans say "Awesome!" Brilliant describes anything sparkly, fabulous, or full of light. A bright color is brilliant, too, like the brilliant orange of a setting sun.
Vocabulary lists containing brilliant
All Aglow: Light Lingo
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Bright Ideas: Synonyms For "Smart"
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"Casey at the Bat"
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
Before the experiment, Fermi—a brilliant mathematician—calculated the chance that the reaction would blow up Chicago.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
But among the errors and strange behaviour, Hugging Face warned the AI agents made brilliant technical moves and were able to rapidly adapt to new scenarios in the days-long hack.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
"I believe this extraordinary story could make a really brilliant and successful movie and am now working on the next steps towards its production."
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
Waters has taken comparisons to antifeminist activist Phyllis Schlafly as a compliment: After all, Schlafly was brilliant and confident and media savvy too.
From Salon ● Jul. 27, 2026
In a brilliant bit of policing, the investigation had successfully established what everyone already knew.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
Five days a week, 14 hours a day, he squints through nine newspapers and bends over his typewriter like a jeweler, chipping and polishing at the hard little brilliants for his program.
From Time Magazine Archive
Suddenly, just before it was to be hoisted in place above the Virgin's portrait, sharp-eyed Archbishop Diaz saw two brilliants tumble to the altar.
From Time Magazine Archive
For her trouble the Turkish Government awarded her Turkey's highest aviation honor, a medal set with brilliants.
From Time Magazine Archive
She finally disclosed that she had made it herself out of some old tulle and brilliants she "found around the house" and it "represented absolutely nothing at all."
From Time Magazine Archive
The great beauty of the sepulchral chamber is its dome, which is highly ornamented, and sparkles with brilliants.
From Incidents of Travel in Greece, Turkey, Russia, and Poland, Vol. I (of 2) by Stephens, John Lloyd
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.
