scintillating
Americanadjective
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animated; vivacious; effervescent.
a scintillating personality.
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witty; brilliantly clever.
a scintillating conversationalist;
a play full of scintillating dialogue.
adjective
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sparkling; twinkling
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animated or brilliant
Other Word Forms
- scintillatingly adverb
- unscintillating adjective
Etymology
Origin of scintillating
First recorded in 1880–85; scintillat(e) + -ing 1
Explanation
Something scintillating is flashing briefly and sharply with light. Scintillating conversations are smart and captivating. To be scintillating is to be sharp. Things that are scintillating are exciting: they grab your attention with sparkles, flashes of light, or sheer brilliance. Most often, we talk about scintillating conversations and speakers. If you say someone is scintillating, then they are clever — people want to listen to them. This is a word often used sarcastically. If someone is boring, you might say "Well, that was scintillating," while rolling your eyes.
Vocabulary lists containing scintillating
"Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963)
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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.
"It's nearly invisible to the naked eye but our instruments give rise to a vision of swaths of scintillating corona glowing as thunderstorms pass overhead," McFarland said.
From Science Daily • Apr. 21, 2026
“Black Bag” tore up spy movie conventions with its emphasis on fidelity in the field, becoming one of the genre’s most scintillating new films in years.
From Salon • Apr. 17, 2026
Captain of Italy's 2006 World Cup-winning team, the former defender does not have a scintillating managerial pedigree.
From BBC • Apr. 3, 2026
The composition is utterly still, devoid of human presence and enlivened only by fluttering harbor flags and the canvas’s scintillating pinpoints of color.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 28, 2026
It floated in midair, scintillating and spinning, flashing and turning.
From "The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage" by Philip Pullman
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.
