Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Radiating light; bright.
- adj. Bright from reflected light; glistening.
- adj. Having a sheen from being rubbed or worn smooth.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Clear; unclouded; lighted by the sun or moon.
- Having a. glittering appearance; glossy.
- n. Gold; money. Also shiney.
- Rubbed smooth by abrasion: said of cloth, rails, wire rope, etc.
- Reflecting light or showing differences in shade or color on account of the presence of a film of grease, as in cloth, or its absence locally from a surface which is normally lubricated, as in engine-guides.
Wiktionary
- adj. Reflecting light.
- adj. Emitting light.
- adj. colloquial Excellent; remarkable.
- adj. obsolete Bright; luminous; clear; unclouded.
- n. informal Anything shiny; a trinket.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Bright; luminous; clear; unclouded.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. reflecting light
- adj. having a shiny surface or coating
- adj. made smooth and bright by or as if by rubbing; reflecting a sheen or glow
Etymologies
- shine + -y (Wiktionary)
Examples
“They're buying what they call shiny, bright ornaments because that's what the 40 and 50-year-old people, their grandma had them.”
“We don't need to demonize it outright, but it doesn't make sense to glorify it in "shiny" ways either.”
“It was wrapped in shiny, green paper with a purple bow.”
“Cram's old firm is producing churches again, and the likes of Arthur Brown and John Russell Pope are all over the bookshelves in shiny new monographs if one at least finds the right shelf or noodles around online.”
“When she opened the handbag, she found $200 in shiny bills in the bag.”
“Water transformed it, turning cracked gray skin shiny new.”
“We are now seen as the turn up in shiny cars and do a bit of ANPR police force (making sure we a bloody sign out 1st telling everyone we are doing it)”
“I think I've asked for it before, but I can't find it anywhere; it's like a frickin 'shiny Celebi or something.”
“There will be a drawing for something awesome - a Wyrding Studios shiny is a distinct possibility.”
“It's probably money well spent to have the film's cast roll up Hollywood-style to the premiere in shiny new Escalades.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘shiny’.
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Public List: Two by Fives
This is an experiment in public lists--something I've been thinking about for some time. The goal is to create a collection of short, powerful, evocative words.
This is an open list. A...icy, howl, hymn, thorn, fire, vile, mist, blunt, scum, dark, shot, gleam and 221 more...
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Y
What a -Y does to an otherwise common, dull word
zany, waxy, wavy, arty, chewy, bony, boxy, cozy, nosy, foxy, wiry, junky and 321 more...
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Metallics
Words that relate to or describe metals.
malleable, ductile, shiny, steely, brassy, dull, golden, precious, smelt, smith, tensile, clink and 39 more...
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I am : bright
Verbs and adjectives (mostly adjectives) pertaining to physical light, brightness and/or clarity.
bright, brilliant, ablaze, afire, aflame, incandescent, fluorescent, phosphorescent, lucent, lambent, transparent, clear and 29 more...
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Words of Praise
Please contribute lots of panegyrical words—preferably such that are of universal use.
gorgeous, flamboyant, grand, magnificent, iridescent, incandescent, splendorous, coruscating, immaculate, magniloquent, sublime, scintillating and 33 more...
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♥
ambrosia, inamorata, gossamer, lily-white, hummingbird, roucoulement, poppy, daisy, calypso, lunula, lamb, dove and 1526 more...
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cindywrites's Words
chiaroscuro, mollycoddle, feckless, evocative, provocative, invocation, beckon, allay, becalm, console, lull, soothe and 479 more...
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Words I like
There's nothing more to this list, really.
lily, defenestrate, gloaming, aesthetically, melody, translucent, semiotics, wistful, linear, origami, plethora, schadenfreude and 92 more...
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colleen's words
yellow, green, pie, blue, fur, people, incense, book, brown, avuncular, mountain, fog and 1316 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (S)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
sabian symbols, saffron, sagacious, sage, salamander, sally lunn, salmon, salsify, salt water taffy, samhain, sand dollar, sandalwood and 270 more...
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haguremetaru's Words
floozy, mandalay, mandible, x, don't, will, ridiculous, funily, stuff, junk, doody, manning and 152 more...
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Chainlink's Words
hat, opalescent, opal, emerald, sapphire, scythe, carnival, calliope, brilliant, awesome, feather, fantastic and 268 more...
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Apples to Apples: Green Cards
A complete list of the green cards (adjectives) from the popular word game.
absurd, addictive, adorable, aged, American, ancient, animated, annoying, appetizing, arrogant, awesome, awkward and 237 more...
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Beknownst1981's list
I love words, especially the ones I make up with my friends.
translucent meat ..., beknownst (knew), plethora, curmudgeon, wanderlust, actually, differentiate, bearded, hobbit feet, female, sexy time, librarian and 220 more...
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pixistix's Words
cumquat, circumlocution, panoply, propinquity, contumely, quietus, fardel, tmesis, tipsy, giddy, trudge, vortex and 211 more...
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chibiryuu's Words
sugary, amalgam, zaftig, incommensurability, isomorphism, fold, awesome, cute, hack, dichotomy, pyrrhic, bifurcate and 89 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for shiny.

owretchedman Her ass was shiny in the moonlight. Aug 1, 2009
john Aidje, fantastic citation! From the first episode of "Firefly", I believe. Dec 27, 2006
haguremetaru "Ooh... shiny!" Dec 9, 2006
aidje …and I wish I was the king of all Londinium and wore a shiny hat. Dec 6, 2006