- present participle of twinkle.
twinkling
Americannoun
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twinklings
plural
-
an act of shining with intermittent gleams of light.
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the time required for a wink; an instant.
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Archaic. winking; a wink.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of twinkling
Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; see origin at twinkle, -ing 1
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."
Vocabulary lists containing twinkling
Let There Be Light: Synonyms for "Bright"
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"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll, Chapters 7–9
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"Not-So-Starry Nights: Light Pollution Turns Night into Day"
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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:
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
The store’s front facade was wrapped in a giant plaid scarf made of 126,000 twinkling Christmas lights.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 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
After a romantic ride through chic neighbourhoods, Castel got down on one knee as a violinist played with the twinkling Eiffel Tower in the background.
From Barron's ● Feb. 12, 2026
Little twinkling ones, big glowing ones that resemble diamonds.
From "The Manifestor Prophecy" by Angie Thomas
"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
The old man's eye was keen with the twinklings of avarice and cunning; the young man's bright with the light of intelligence and spirit.
From Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
I know some lovelorn hearts that beat In time to moonbeam twinklings fleet, That dance and glance like jewels there, Emblazoning the raven hair!
From The Two Vanrevels by Booth Tarkington
O gentle sleep! do they belong to thee, These twinklings of oblivion?
From The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, Volume IV (of 8) by William Wordsworth
In nine times nine twinklings of the eye must all be completed.'
From Tales from the German. Volume II. The Lichtensteins, The Sorceress, The Anabaptist by Carl Franz van der Velde
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.
