Definitions

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

  • intransitive verb To send forth light in flashes; sparkle. synonym: flash.
  • intransitive verb To be scintillating.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To emit sparks; hence, to sparkle or twinkle, as the fixed stars.
  • Synonyms Sparkle, Glister, etc. (see glare, intransitive verb) coruscate.

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

  • intransitive verb To emit sparks, or fine igneous particles.
  • intransitive verb To sparkle, as the fixed stars.

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

  • verb intransitive To give off sparks; to shine as if emanating sparks; to twinkle or glow.
  • verb transitive To throw off like sparks.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb physics: fluoresce momentarily when struck by a charged particle or high-energy photon
  • verb reflect brightly
  • verb be lively or brilliant or exhibit virtuosity
  • verb give off
  • verb emit or reflect light in a flickering manner

Etymologies

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

[Latin scintillāre, scintillāt-, from scintilla, spark.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin scintillatus, past participle of scintillare ("to sparkle, glitter, gleam, flash"), from scintilla ("a spark")

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Examples

Comments

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  • Scintillate, scintillate, globule lucific.

    Fain would I fathom thy nature specific.

    (a more, ahem, wordy version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star)

    December 7, 2006

  • "sin till late"

    December 28, 2006

  • That's pretty funny oroboros.

    December 29, 2006

  • More of the twinkle twinkle synonym poem:

    Scintillate, scintillate, globule lucific,

    Fain would I fathom thy nature specific.

    Loftily poised on the ether capacious,

    Strongly resembling a gem carbonaceous.

    - by John Raymond Carson

    June 12, 2017

  • See comments at sparkle.

    June 12, 2017