shimmer
Americanverb (used without object)
-
shimmers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
shimmered,
past participle, past
-
shimmering
present participle
-
to shine with or reflect a subdued, tremulous light; gleam faintly.
- Synonyms:
- glimmer
-
to appear to quiver or vibrate in faint light or while reflecting heat waves.
noun
-
a subdued, tremulous light or gleam.
-
a quivering or vibrating motion or image as produced by reflecting faint light or heat waves.
verb
noun
Synonym Usage
See glisten.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
shimmersimple
-
shimmerssimple
-
have shimmeredperfect
-
has shimmeredperfect
-
am shimmeringprogressive
-
are shimmeringprogressive
-
is shimmeringprogressive
-
have been shimmeringperfect progressive
-
has been shimmeringperfect progressive
Past
-
shimmeredsimple
-
had shimmeredperfect
-
was shimmeringprogressive
-
were shimmeringprogressive
-
had been shimmeringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of shimmer
First recorded before 1100; Middle English schimeren, s(c)hemeren, Old English scimrian; cognate with Dutch schemeren, German schimmern “to glisten”
Explanation
When you shimmer you shine, although sometimes quite weakly. A shimmer is small and sometimes weak, and in danger of going out, but it's there all the same and often beautiful. You know how silk catches the light and shines in lovely ways? That's a shimmer. How about when you feel like it's the end of the world but there's a little piece of you that believes things are going to get better? That's a shimmer of hope. Or when you open a door to a dark room and the light from the hall falls into the darkness? That's a shimmer of light.
Vocabulary lists containing shimmer
Poetry Cafe
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Because of Winn-Dixie
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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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:
At night, the lights that illuminate the bridge shimmer like mini moons in the waters below.
From BBC ● Apr. 13, 2026
AL JEER, United Arab Emirates—Oil tankers, container ships and bulk carriers shimmer all over the horizon to the left of the windswept beach here at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026
Nearby, racks of sequined jackets shimmer with slogans like "Make Heaven Crowded," worn by supporters well into their seventies who, for a few days at least, dress more like pop fans than retirees.
From Barron's ● Mar. 28, 2026
Tomatoes are optional, but when included, they give the richness a little lift, a shimmer of acidity against the warm, cheesy backdrop.
From Salon ● Dec. 18, 2025
“Just wait till you see what’s for dessert this noon!” she’d tell us at the breakfast table, and all morning in the shop the question would shimmer in the back of our minds.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
We’d chat while waiting at the little Middle Eastern bakery that turns out the neighborhood’s best Barbari bread — long, sesame-and–black-caraway–speckled loaves that come out of the oven so hot the air around them shimmers.
From Salon ● Dec. 7, 2025
“Cortez the Killer” shimmers into existence, and a listener might contemplate that while it’s another one of Young’s monumental mid-’70s mythic journeys, it’s also essentially a story about imperialism.
From Salon ● Aug. 19, 2025
Track and field shimmers with names that transcend the sport—Jesse Owens, Florence Griffith Joyner, Usain Bolt.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2025
The 35-mile-long sea shimmers, a cascade of colors in the desert, when the sun sets over the Santa Rosa Mountains.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 16, 2024
In the clouds and the swirls and the shimmers and the lights and the ache and the buzz and the shaking and the coughing, I’m thinking.
From "The Knife of Never Letting Go" by Patrick Ness
Wunmi Mosaku, up for best supporting actress for Sinners, opted for a striking blue dress, which shimmered on the red carpet.
From BBC ● Feb. 22, 2026
But it also shimmered with optimism and adventure.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 18, 2025
Lake Powell has shimmered between red canyon walls along the Arizona-Utah border since Glen Canyon Dam was completed in the 1960s.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2024
There, in the front window, glistens a massive Maria Theresa-style chandelier that once shimmered in the hotel’s ballroom, its many crystals winking at you in the refracted light.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 1, 2024
The way it gently shimmered in the water was strangely beautiful.
From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown
I wrote years ago that the project boasted “a sort of shimmering authenticity” — if one didn’t look too closely.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
From a gas crater dubbed the "Gateway to Hell" to the shimmering marble buildings of its capital, Turkmenistan is tentatively opening up to tourists after decades of isolation.
From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026
The Golden Goose is shimmering right now in terms of value.
From BBC ● Jun. 11, 2026
It’s an admirable acknowledgement of those behind the scenes, slotting film reels into the Dryden’s 75-year-old projectors, summoning shimmering worlds before our eyes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026
Ama finishes her sun symbol, and a shimmering purple force field forms around us.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
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.
