Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Bright red.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Shining; glittering.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Having a reddish glow; shining.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective literary Shining or glowing with red light.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English rutilaunt, from Latin rutilāns, rutilant-, present participle of rutilāre, to make red, to be reddish, from rutilus, red, reddish; see reudh- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin rutilāns, adjective use of present participle of rutilāre, from rutilus ("reddish").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word rutilant.

Examples

  • The hum of a truck stop in the dead of night is one of the sonic emblems of America, right up there with the bombs in the air, the rutilant rockets, and the stern impassioned stress.

    Shipping News Rybczynski, Witold 2006

  • The pounding roar of the first shot resounded from inside the cracked-open sphere, and the nigrescent space thudded with the rutilant explosions of needlecraft.

    In Other Worlds Attanasio, A. A. 1984

  • Standing against the wall and blinking at the rutilant glare of the room, Goliath the dwarf waited nervously.

    Fantazius Mallare A Mysterious Oath Ben Hecht 1929

  • Mother's milk, Purefoy, the milk of human kin, milk too of those burgeoning stars overhead rutilant in thin rainvapour, punch milk, such as those rioters will quaff in their guzzling den, milk of madness, the honeymilk of Canaan's land.

    Ulysses James Joyce 1911

  • It was like the show-piece that is reserved for the conclusion of a _fete_, the huge bouquet of gold and crimson, as if Paris were burning like a forest of old oaks and soaring heavenward in a rutilant cloud of sparks and flame.

    The Downfall ��mile Zola 1871

  • But to say no more of these superstitious fopperies, which are many other about this tree, we still dress up both our churches and houses, on Christmas and other festival days, with this cheerful green and rutilant berries.

    Sylva, Vol. 1 (of 2) Or A Discourse of Forest Trees John Evelyn 1663

  • Auribus atque animo capimus procul i altera fi qua Stellarum fulgent rutilant, vt quae plurima longo Bellua fert lateri, neque multa luce corufcant, 745.

    Arati Solensis Phaenomena et Diosemea graece et latine ad codd. mss. et optimarvm edd. fidem recensita Buhle, Johann Gottlieb, 1763-1821, ed 1793

  • How much of our sentiments and thoughts do we gather from our surroundings; and the shining blue of the turquoise-coloured curtains, the pale dead-blue of the Louis XV. furniture, and the exquisite fragility of the glass chandeliers, the gold mirrors rutilant with the light of some hundreds of tall wax candles, were illustrative of the light dreams and delicate lassitude that filled the souls of the women as they lay back whispering to their partners, the crinolettes lifting the skirts over the edges of the sofas.

    Muslin 1892

  • Blaise, le sympathique animateur québécois qui m’avait au départ un peu surprise par sa familiarité, mais auquel j’avais fini par m’attacher, et avec qui je commençais à me sentir en confiance, a été remplacé par un monsieur au matériel rutilant mais au style beaucoup plus impersonnel.

    Karaoke Contrariété — Climb to the Stars 2004

  • Blaise, le sympathique animateur québécois qui m’avait au départ un peu surprise par sa familiarité, mais auquel j’avais fini par m’attacher, et avec qui je commençais à me sentir en confiance, a été remplacé par un monsieur au matériel rutilant mais au style beaucoup plus impersonnel.

    2004 February — Climb to the Stars 2004

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • rutilant a glittering word

    January 13, 2007

  • "Mother's milk, Purefoy, the milk of human kin, milk too of those burgeoning stars overhead, rutilant in thin rainvapour, punch milk, such as those rioters will quaff in their guzzlingden, milk of madness, the honeymilk of Canaan's land."

    Joyce, Ulysses, 14

    January 27, 2007

  • glowing with a ruddy or golden light

    February 28, 2009