burnish
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To make bright, shiny, and smooth by, or as if by.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
burnishSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈbɝnɪʃ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
transitive
To make (something, such as a surface) bright, shiny, and smooth by, or (by extension) as if by, rubbing; to polish, to shine.
transitivefiguratively
To make (someone or something) appear positive and highly respected.
intransitive
To become bright, glossy, and smooth; to brighten, to gleam, to shine forth.
transitive
Of a stag: to remove the velvet ("skin and fine fur") from (its antlers) by rubbing them against something; to velvet.
Of a person's body: to grow large or stout; to fatten, to fill out.
by extension
Of a thing: to increase in size; to expand, to spread out, to swell.
noun
uncountable
The making of something bright, shiny, and smooth by, or (by extension) as if by, rubbing; (countable) an instance of this; a burnishing, a polishing, a shining.
countable
A shine of something which has been polished; a lustre, a polish.
The property of being smooth and shiny
countable
A shiny layer applied to a surface or other thing.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To make (something, such as a surface) bright, shiny, and smooth by, or (by extension) as if by, rubbing; to polish, to shine.
Used this way, burnish is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use burnish
- “In pottery, a stone is sometimes used to burnish a pot before firing, giving it a smooth, shiny look.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: to make (something or such as a surface) bright
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.