Word.ws English Dictionary

brilliantine

/ˈbrɪl.jən.tiːn/

brilliantine noun: a hair pomade, making the hair shine brilliantly.

Noun

brilliantine (countable and uncountable, plural brilliantines)

  1. (dated) A hair pomade, making the hair shine brilliantly.
    • The hairdresser's shop was warm and glittering. It smelled of soap and burnt paper and wallflower brilliantine.1920, Katherine Mansfield [pseudonym; Kathleen Mansfield Murry], “Revelations”, in Bliss and Other Stories, London: Constable & Company, published 1920, →OCLC, page 267
    • "I wouldn't regret it," said Linda, "if I took Eileen by the shoulders and shook her till I shook the rouge off her cheek, and the brilliantine off her hair, and a million mean little subterfuges out of her soul.1921, Gene Stratton-Porter, chapter 4, in Her father's daughter, archived from the original on 11 Aug 2014
  2. (dated) A smooth shiny, luxurious fabric, often of alpaca or vicuña.
    • Bathing Suit of Brilliantine in Navy Blue and Black, trimmed with white mohair braid and buttons (no bloomers). Special 3.951916 June 11, The New York Times, number 112

Verb

brilliantine (third-person singular simple present brilliantines, present participle brilliantining, simple past and past participle brilliantined)

  1. (dated) To apply brilliantine to the hair.
    • And the waiter, of course, dips his fingers into the gravy—his nasty, greasy fingers which he is for ever running through his brilliantined hair.1933 January 9, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter XIV, in Down and Out in Paris and London, London: Victor Gollancz […], →OCLC

brilliantine meaning in Tamil

brilliantine in Tamil

பளபளப்புத் தைலம், கூந்தல் மெருகு நெய்

Forms of brilliantine

Noun
pluralbrilliantines
Verb
third-person singular presentbrilliantines
present participlebrilliantining
past participlebrilliantined
pastbrilliantined

Origin of brilliantine

Borrowed from French brillantine.

Questions about brilliantine

What does brilliantine mean?
Brilliantine means a hair pomade, making the hair shine brilliantly.
What is brilliantine in Tamil?
Brilliantine in Tamil is பளபளப்புத் தைலம், கூந்தல் மெருகு நெய். See Brilliantine meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is brilliantine?
Brilliantine can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce brilliantine?
Brilliantine is pronounced /ˈbrɪl.jən.tiːn/ (US).
What is the plural of brilliantine?
The plural of brilliantine is brilliantines.

Words near brilliantine in the dictionary

  1. brilliant
  2. brilliant green
  3. brilliant rummynose tetra
  4. brilliant rummynose tetras
  5. brillianted
  6. brilliantine
  7. brilliantined
  8. brilliantines
  9. brillianting
  10. brilliantining
  11. brilliantly

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: brilliantine (page history and authors); brilliantine (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Yangolin-brilliantine.wav.

Cite this entry: “brilliantine.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/brilliantine. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.