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gleam

noun · verb

Simple meaning

An appearance of reflected light.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

gleem
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈɡlim

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. An appearance of reflected light

  2. A flash of light (especially reflected light)

  3. countable

    An appearance of light, especially one which is indistinct or small, or short-lived.

  4. countablefiguratively

    A bright, but intermittent or short-lived, appearance of something.

  5. countablefiguratively

    An indistinct sign of something; a glimpse or hint.

  6. countablefiguratively

    A look of joy or liveliness on one's face.

verb

  1. intransitive

    To shine, especially in an indistinct or intermittent manner; to glisten, to glitter.

  2. Appear briefly

    “A terrible thought gleamed in her mind.”

  3. intransitivefiguratively

    To be strongly but briefly apparent.

  4. transitive

    Chiefly in conjunction with an adverb: to cause (light) to shine.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C2 · Proficient
Frequency
Rare
Typical Use
Primarily written

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: An appearance of reflected light

Used this way, gleam 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
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Appear / flash

bright gleamsudden gleam

Shine

gleam like

Other combinations

first gleamfaint gleamlast gleameyes gleamwhite gleam

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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?

Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.

  • glint

    A short flash of light, usually when reflected off a shiny surface.

  • glimmer

    A flash of light (especially reflected light).

  • shine

    Brightness from reflected light.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • gleamingnounInflected form

    A flash of light (especially reflected light).

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: appearance of reflected light

glint

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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.