Showing results for "twinkling"

• present participle of twinkle.

twinkling

American  

[twing-kling] / ˈtwɪŋ klɪŋ /

noun

• twinklings
  plural

1. an act of shining with intermittent gleams of light.

2. the time required for a wink; an instant.

3. Archaic. winking; a wink.

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twinkling British  

/ ˈtwɪŋklɪŋ, twɪŋk- /

noun

1. Also called: twinkling of an eye. a very short time; instant; moment

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twinkling Idioms  

1. see in the twinkling of an eye.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• untwinkling
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• twinklings
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of twinkling

Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; see origin at twinkle, -ing ¹

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Explanation

The adjective twinkling refers to light that appears sporadically bright and then faint. When the light from stars is twinkling, it may look as if they're winking at you. Of course, it's not the stars themselves that are twinkling, but their light, which gets refracted as it passes through the turbulence of the earth's atmosphere. The same goes for the lights of distant cities or any other lights that stay constant but appear to brighten and dim. As a noun, twinkling means something brief, as in "the twinkling of an eye."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

twinkling twinklings

Digital creators also walked the red carpet twinkling and sparkling in cultures and sculpted dresses.

From BBC ● May 10, 2026

In a twinkling, the report gets disappeared from public view and public comment as completely as if it had been dropped off the end of the Santa Monica Pier.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 6, 2026

Let’s take a moment to appreciate the cabin headliner, twinkling like thousands of LED stars in the firmament.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 4, 2026

The audience rehashed its hunches, they circled potential suspects, they stared at a static image of a horrific crime scene, awash in twinkling moonlight.

From Slate ● Feb. 23, 2026

He can make out only several twinkling lights and shapes that could possibly be furniture.

From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern

"It quickly became clear to me that mutability has these twinklings of joy, sometimes ecstasy, which comes through in the poems, I think."

From The Guardian ● Jan. 27, 2011

These twinklings and reflections and re-reflections did not change their position; but there was one gleam that had motion.

From Widdershins by Oliver [pseud.] Onions

Carnival in an ordinary little Italian town seems, no doubt, commonplace enough to those who have seen its glories in Rome—the crowded Corso, the rush of the maddened horses, the firefly twinklings of the Maccoletti.

From Stray Studies from England and Italy by John Richard Greene

I once might see the fairies dance A-circle in their meadow-haunts, Soft-tapered by the new-moon's glance: Their airy feet in crystal shoon Made twinklings neath the silver moon.

From The Coast of Bohemia by Thomas Nelson Page

And Odysseus gazed at the twinklings of the feet, and marvelled in spirit.

From The Odyssey Done into English prose by Andrew Lang

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