spark

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“
So oft the spark was asked for orders new,

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Definitions (54)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (22)

  1. noun An incandescent particle, especially:
  2. noun One thrown off from a burning substance.
  3. noun One resulting from friction.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (20)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (4)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (8)

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Examples (50)

  • This is simply wonderful, and a good proof that the cause of the spark is a TRUE UNKNOWN FORCE November 23, 1815. —  Edison, His Life and Inventions
  • If the spark was there one minute and gone the next, there could be a variety of reasons for it. —  AskMen.com - HOME PAGE
  • This spark is an aspiration to return to our root, the Creator. —  Find Free Articles - ArticlesBase
  • "From the beginning of the second half, the spark was there," said Harris, who scored 28 points with six rebounds and seven assists. —  Freep.com - RSS
  • Thankfully, the spark was as short-lived as the Reds 'postseason hopes, and nothing ignited. —  Red Hot Mama
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This word has been looked up 184 times.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Suggestions Wordniks Suggest

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

gleam ·  flash ·  glow ·  flare ·  blaze ·  surge ·  streak ·  ray ·  impulse ·  explosion ·  manifestation ·  radiance

Used in the same contextWord Family

spark:   Spark ·  sparking ·  sparked ·  sparks
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (5)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Middle English sparke, from Old English spearca. V., from Middle English sparken, from Old English spearcian.
  2. Perhaps of Scandinavian origin or from spark1.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (3)

  1. from Middle English sparke, sperke, sparc, sparc, spearke, from Anglo-Saxon spearca, spærca = Middle Dutch sparcke, spercke, Dutch spark = Middle Low German Low German sparke (later Old French esparque), a spark; perhaps so called from the crackling of a firebrand: cf. Icelandic Swedish spraka = Danish sprage, crackle, Lithuanian sprageti, crackle, Greek σφάραγος, a crackling, Sanskrit √ sphūrj, rumble.
  2. Usually associated with spark, sparkish, sparkling, etc., but perhaps a variant of sprack (cf. Middle English sparklich, variant of sprackliche), from Icelandic sparkr, usually transposed sprækr, sprightly: see sprack.
  3. from spark, n.
 

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/spɑrk/
by American Heritage

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