Definitions

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

  • adjective Animated, brilliant, or highly skilled.

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

  • verb Present participle of scintillate.
  • adjective That scintillates with brief flashes of light; sparkling.
  • adjective Brilliantly clever, amusing or witty.

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

  • adjective brilliantly clever
  • adjective having brief brilliant points or flashes of light
  • adjective marked by high spirits or excitement

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From scintillate +‎ -ing.

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Examples

  • I overdid it, she thought in terror, as she recalled her scintillating remarks and elaborate manner.

    The Californians Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton 1902

  • Pointe's performances have been described as scintillating and legendary, and she spent a few minutes with us to give us the lowdown on what to expect.

    Long Island Press 2009

  • What a "scintillating" speech the new leader made, according to the Mirror.

    Ed Miliband is ahead of the pack while pundits are stuck in Gridlock Gulch Peter Preston 2010

  • The Good Foot, LondonAn all-new night of all-old jams, The Good Foot is a funk and rare groove shakedown playing the kind of scintillating sonics that are just as much fun to scratch your beard to in a knowledgable muso way as they are to cut some serious rug to.

    Clubs picks of the week Patric Baird 2010

  • McChesney called it "scintillating" as he build a "mountain (ous)" historical record on what no one had ever written.

    Robert McChesney's "Communication Revolution" 2008

  • McChesney called it "scintillating" as he build a "mountain (ous)" historical record on what no one had ever written.

    Robert McChesney's "Communication Revolution" 2008

  • And -- and I think that was the sense that -- that a lot of people of my age had about the White House, you know, the best and the brightest, that it was a place, it was an office that demanded a kind of scintillating intellect.

    Character: Profiles in Presidential Courage 2004

  • Bafana Bafana national soccer team would deliver a "scintillating" performance in their World Cup qualifier against Congo on Saturday.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1997

  • This time it was McAnuff and Jimmy Kebe who joined forces to torment the City defence in a first half display rightly described by manager Brian McDermott as 'scintillating'.

    getreading - Reading Post - RSS feed 2010

  • There was no doubting the superior class that the visitors had to offer - "scintillating",

    Top stories from Times Online 2010

Comments

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  • "To return to this scintillating topic of conversation..."

    November 18, 2009

  • scintillating early!

    May 5, 2011