Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A minute amount; an iota or trace.
- n. A spark; a flash.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A spark; a glimmer; hence, the least particle; a trace; a tittle.
- n. [capitalized] [NL.] In zoology:
- n. A genus of bivalve mollusks.
- n. A genus of lepidopterous insects.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A spark; the least particle; an iota; a tittle.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a tiny or scarcely detectable amount
- n. a sparkling glittering particle
Etymologies
- Existing in English since the seventeenth century; from Latin scintilla ("sparkling speck, atom"). (Wiktionary)
- Latin, spark. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Yesterday's term was scintilla, which is defined as:”
“The court went on to determine that the "scintilla" test would create too much ambiguity as well.”
“Not-Laura was proud to have planted "a skin-tella of doubt," though she probably meant "scintilla," but had no concept of how to pronounce the word.”
“You don't feel any kind of scintilla of ethics on this thing at all?”
“scintilla' of evidence of wrongdoing - refusing to carry out a proper investigation and claiming that Gus O'Donnel”
“She betrayed the families of the victims who certainly have been waiting nearly five long years to get some kind of scintilla of justice reports that "U.S.”
“Most of what he has to say is by now pretty familiar to anyone with a scintilla of interest in the topic, but I was intrigued by the analogy he offered up between contemporary globalization of communications and the settling of the New World.”
“Would anyone with a scintilla of actual taste or style really be caught dead at a place tacky enough to explicitly remind patrons they should “dress to impress”?”
“Yet from the nabobs of finance there is still not a whisper of a hint of a scintilla of humility or penance.”
The Guardian: The protesters seem more adult than politicians and plutocrats | Andrew Rawnsley
“But neither is there a scintilla of Scripture that would suggest he was actively heterosexual.”
The Huffington Post: Eliot Daley: Same-Sex Marriage Is Not A Matter For Ballots
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘scintilla’.
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GRE 2014
abate, abdicate, abase, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Iaan
dirigisme, dystopia, cacotopia, ex ante, veritable, indefatigable, curmudgeon, desultory, antediluvian, transmogrify, pendent, elongate and 269 more...
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Imprecise Units of Measurement
A list of terms for units of measurement that are less than exact, such as dessert-spoonful.
two shakes, dessert-spoonful, a pinch, a bit, some, smidge, smidgin, dollop, drop, fleck, smack, sprinkling and 187 more...
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501
Classic
mete, ire, bane, bilk, boor, elan, ado, toil, onus, aberration, abstruse, anomaly and 401 more...
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250 Extra Spelling Words
Some more words for intermediate and advanced spellers.
cultellarius, barouche, palanquin, badelaire, cavetto, tregetour, tergiversate, rhododendron, rhadamanthine, thyrsus, cappelletti, bradycardia and 238 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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501
Classic
abhor, mirth, obtuse, iota, vex, irk, teem, pith, moot, mete, ire, bane and 401 more...
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phrontistery-s
from phrontistery.info
syzygy, systyle, systematology, systatic, syssitia, syrtic, systaltic, syrt, syrinx, syphilomania, syphilology, syntrierarch and 1593 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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Naresh_Gre2
convoke, cosset, coterie, declaim, distaff, doff, dovetail, droll, dyspeptic, egress, ersatz, euphemism and 108 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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May 2013
ungulate, kvetch, scintilla, clandestine, vis-a-vis, pygmy, dour, sodomite, erythematous, purveyor, blandishment, tontine and 1 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2046 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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#faveword
Words chosen as favorites for the Twitter hashtag #faveword.
autumnal, grotto, chiaroscuro, sfumato, homunculus, zing, zest, effervescent, bewitch, avuncular, susurrus, Styrofoam and 205 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for scintilla.
kingparton A hundred races, from the mightiest to the weakest... you took from each of them a shade, a hue, a tint, and a scintilla, enfolding them to your bosom, adding them to the splendor of your attire, and continuing your course through the ages with vigor and resolve.
Arshak Chopanian, "Ode to My Native Tongue" Jul 25, 2011
thenewvivek Sounds like a fragment of a fascinating conversation. Aug 26, 2009
asativum You know, I'd think a scintilla is smaller than a soupçon, just from the phrase"not a scintilla of evidence. Jun 21, 2008
gangerh But smaller than a soupspoon. Jun 21, 2008
johnmperry I always envisage a scintilla as being hard and sharp, like a glass splinter, whereas a soupcon sounds much more liquid somehow. Jun 21, 2008
johnmperry Probably bigger than a soupcon
Jun 21, 2008
bilby Italian - spark. Apr 7, 2008
reesetee Also the name of an imaginary ultra-compact car. ;-> Oct 8, 2007