aglow
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of aglow
Explanation
Something that's aglow is gleaming with light. You might sit outside at night to see the full moon, aglow in the dark sky. The adjective aglow is a poetic, slightly old-fashioned way to say "glowing" or "radiant." Some things are literally aglow, like the sunshine glinting off the surface of a lake, and others are figuratively aglow, like your sister's smiling face, aglow with health and happiness. The poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge is credited with the first use of aglow, in his 1817 "Sonnet to William Wordsworth."
Vocabulary lists containing aglow
Let There Be Light: Synonyms for "Bright"
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Novel Study: When Breath Becomes Air, Part II–Epilogue
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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.
The production, subduedly aglow in Adam Honoré and Spencer Doughtie’s lighting, has the lyrical beauty of a vintage photograph magically summoned to life.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 17, 2026
When it was over, I felt oddly aglow and weightless.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026
Below deck, aglow with the light of a dozen computer monitors, is the Combat Information Centre.
From BBC • Feb. 11, 2024
Adding to this trio of celestial jewels, a waxing crescent moon will be aglow with light from the Earth shortly after sunset.
From Seattle Times • Jan. 31, 2024
There was one small gray area of the sky still aglow in the west; the rest was blackness, and flashes of lightning.
From "The Killer Angels: The Classic Novel of the Civil War" by Michael Shaara
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.
