Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To give off sparks.
- v. To give off or reflect flashes of light; glitter. See Synonyms at flash.
- v. To be brilliant in performance.
- v. To shine with animation: He has eyes that sparkle.
- v. To flash with wit: Her conversation sparkled all evening.
- v. To release gas bubbles; effervesce: Champagne sparkles.
- v. To cause to flash and glitter: Sunlight was sparkling the waves.
- n. A small spark or gleaming particle.
- n. A glittering quality.
- n. Brilliant animation; vivacity.
- n. Emission of gas bubbles; effervescence.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To emit sparks; send off small ignited particles, as burning fuel, etc.
- To shine as if giving out sparks; glitter; glisten; scintillate, literally or figuratively: as, a brilliant sparkles; a sparkling beauty; sparkling wit.
- Synonyms and
- Scintillate, Glitter, etc. (see glare, verb i.), coruscate.
- To emit with coruscations; throw out sparklingly.
- To scatter; disperse.
- To sprinkle; spatter.
- n. A spark; an ignited or a luminous particle, or something comparable to it; a scintillation; a gleam.
- n. The act or state of sparkling; emission of sparks or scintillations; sparkling luminosity or luster: used literally or figuratively.
Wiktionary
- n. A little spark; a scintillation.
- n. Brilliance; luster
- v. intransitive To emit sparks; to throw off ignited or incandescent particles; to shine as if throwing off sparks; to emit flashes of light; to scintillate; to twinkle; as, the blazing wood sparkles; the stars sparkle.
- v. intransitive To manifest itself by, or as if by, emitting sparks; to glisten; to flash.
- v. intransitive To emit little bubbles, as certain kinds of liquors; to effervesce; as, sparkling wine.
- v. transitive To emit in the form or likeness of sparks.
- v. transitive, obsolete To disperse.
- v. transitive, obsolete To scatter on or over.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A little spark; a scintillation.
- n. Brilliancy; luster.
- v. To emit sparks; to throw off ignited or incandescent particles; to shine as if throwing off sparks; to emit flashes of light; to scintillate; to twinkle.
- v. To manifest itself by, or as if by, emitting sparks; to glisten; to flash.
- v. To emit little bubbles, as certain kinds of liquors; to effervesce.
- v. To emit in the form or likeness of sparks.
- v. obsolete To disperse.
- v. obsolete To scatter on or over.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the occurrence of a small flash or spark
- n. the quality of shining with a bright reflected light
- v. become bubbly or frothy or foaming
- n. merriment expressed by a brightness or gleam or animation of countenance
- v. be lively or brilliant or exhibit virtuosity
- v. emit or produce sparks
- v. reflect brightly
Etymologies
- Middle English, from sparken + -le (Wiktionary)
- Middle English sparklen, frequentative of sparken, to spark; see spark1. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Authors need to possess a certain sparkle in order to promote their work.”
Interview with Sarah Prout - by The Creative Penn | The Creative Penn
“Maybe getting that Bieber sparkle is worth an extra hour of babysitting.”
The Huffington Post: Justin Bieber Nail Polish & Other Overpriced Celebrity Goods
“I think that the sparkle is unusual for daytime, but it seems to fit the unusually cold weather much of the country has been having.”
“And I will try to become the dolphin again, swimming freely in that beautiful, wild sea, flying a middle flipper at any attractive nets that sparkle from the horizon.”
“But what she does look, despite all that shimmer and sparkle, is unavoidably sad.”
“Attention to details such as layered ruffling, pleating, soft buttery leather, and the sparkle from a jewel is necessary!”
“What that business lacks in sparkle, it makes up for with reliable recurring income.”
“This would be one of those times I really REALLY wanted telekinesis or to at least be able to make something sparkle from a distance.”
“Most words I love to use are ones that give me a good vibe about situations: sparkle is a big favorite.”
“A power play that should sparkle is in the middle of the NHL pack.”
USATODAY.com - Singing the financial blues in St. Louis, Pittsburgh
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘sparkle’.
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henryar's list
marmoleum, menagerie, cyan, ochre, pilfer, discombobulate, loquacious, iridescent, amethyst, derelict, botulism, equilibrium and 240 more...
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Pickle and such
Words that end like pickle. Listed here because they're funny (because they end like pickle).
pickle, sparkle, yokel, tinkle, fickle, prickle, trickle, circle, snorkel, ensnorkel, chuckle, buckle and 137 more...
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The Storybook Words
Words from children's literature that feed young imaginations and spark a love of words and language.
peril, sparkle, fizzle, kerfuffle, lachrymose, heebie-jeebies, turtleneck, peacoat, smarmy, daffodil, snapdragon, grouch and 1 more...
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bling
( open list, visual, light, descriptive )
more:
http://www.wordnik.com/lists/dynamic
even more:
sparkle, shine, gleam, glisten, shimmer, gloss, pearly, opalescent, iridescent, prismatic, multifaceted, glow and 35 more... -
position (dynamic)
( descriptive )
more:
http://www.wordnik.com/lists/static
even more:
charismatic, lively, animated, shifting, permeate, wobble, shimmer, sparkle, flex, pizzazz, chaos, fractal and 42 more... -
Literally
Words with definitions that contain the word "literally."
Biblicist, cy pres, literally, lit., loan translation, metaphrase, polite, Embarrass, repentance, rabbi, sparkle, article and 30 more...
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taniadee's list
sparkle, lipstick, sonata, onomatopoeia, imp, altruism, amble, innovate, kitsche, slapstick, embellish, dazzle and 4 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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dolphins gambolling
based on quote by Hesychius of Batos thornbush
who it is believed lived sometime between 700 and 900 AD
The heart that is freed from imaginings ends up by producing in itself hol...reflection, examen, nepsis, ruminate, contemplate, muller, soul-searching, reflect, flash, coruscate, redound, debuscope and 16 more...
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Words Stephenie Meyer Overuses
A collection of words author Stephenie Meyer overuses and abuses in her 'Twilight' series of young adult vampire fiction. Every time you read one of these words in her books, you will GRIMACE and C...
chagrin, grimace, chuckle, smirk, whispered, lope, scintillating, marble, topaz, smoldering, smolder, perfect and 30 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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dandy's list
favourite words
cattywampus, wibble, fenagle, whisker, sneeze, wisteria, honeysuckle, clove, perihelion, glimmer, twilight, dusk and 264 more...
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Star Verbs
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Twitter favorites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favorite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
grabbable, retuiteando, leaving, fantastic, absolutely, kurwa, hella, ridic, underpass, hate, interlude, plush and 2369 more... -
Flutter
tuberose, golden apple, apple cider, unicorn, extraordinary, Pleiades, Merope, speckle, glitter, rose, pitter-pat, whale and 314 more...
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The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for sparkle.

sonofgroucho :-) Feb 13, 2008
gangerh Lovely little bit of sparkling wit there, SoG. Feb 13, 2008
sonofgroucho I've just added sparkle to my list. Feb 13, 2008
oroboros Sparkle Plenty was a character in the Dick Tracy comic strip. Oct 7, 2007
kewpid <sparkle>magical</sparkle> Oct 6, 2007
jennarenn Sparkle is also a children's skip-counting game. :) Oct 6, 2007
arby Apparently there is no such thing as a "sparkle" tag. Color me disappointed. Oct 5, 2007
arby Sparkly text?
ETA: Damn, it didn't work. Oct 5, 2007