Word.ws English Dictionary

glowing

/ˈɡləʊɪŋ/US/ˈɡloʊɪŋ/

glowing is the present participle and gerund of glow.

Adjective

glowing (comparative more glowing, superlative most glowing)

  1. That glows or glow.
    • glowing embers
  2. (figuratively) Full of praise.
    • He received glowing references from his previous employers.
    • I was told that they had no more work for me due to cutbacks. They'd hired me only two weeks before because they were understaffed. I found out from another publisher that they are looking for a new typesetter. They told him I was too slow. I typed 70 wpm and they were nothing but glowing about my...1981 February 14, Joanne Brown, quoting Sondra Corry, “Feminist Starts Uproar By Putting Up Sticker”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 29, page 3

Meaning of glow

Verb

glow (third-person singular simple present glows, present participle glowing, simple past glowed or (dialectal) glew, past participle glowed or (dialectal) glew or (dialectal) glown)

  1. (intransitive) To emit heat and light without a flame.
    • Iron glows red hot when heated to near its melting point.
  2. (intransitive) Of a fire: to emit heat and light.
    • The fire was still glowing after ten hours.
  3. (intransitive) To emit light brightly and steadily as if heated to a high temperature; to shine.
    • [N]ovv glovv'd the Firmament / VVith living Saphirs: […]1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC, signature...
  4. (intransitive) To be very hot; also, to be on fire; to burn.
    • [T]he torrid Zone / Glovvs vvith the paſſing and repaſſing Sun.1697, Virgil, “The First Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 59, lines...
  5. (figuratively, intransitive) Of a colour: to be bright; also, of a thing: to have a bright colour.
    • The new baby’s room glows with bright, loving colours.
  6. (figuratively, intransitive) Of a person: to display intense emotion.
    • a healthy glow

See all 18 meanings of glow

Noun

glowing (plural glowings)

  1. The action of glowing.
    • The coldness having now arrived at its acme, or highest point of intensity, glowings of heat were perceived in the intervals between the rigors or successions. These glowings grew gradually stronger […]1791, Robert Jackson, A Treatise on the Fevers of Jamaica, page 287

Forms of glowing

Noun
pluralglowings
Adjective
comparativemore glowing
superlativemost glowing

Words formed from glowing

Phrases with glowing

Words that rhyme with glowing

9 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about glowing

What does glowing mean?
Glowing means the action of glowing.
What is glowing the present participle and gerund of?
Glowing is the present participle and gerund of glow.
What part of speech is glowing?
Glowing can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce glowing?
Glowing is pronounced /ˈɡloʊɪŋ/ (US).
What is the plural of glowing?
The plural of glowing is glowings.

Words near glowing in the dictionary

  1. glowier
  2. glowies
  3. glowiest
  4. glowin'
  5. glowiness
  6. glowing
  7. glowing generalities
  8. glowing generality
  9. glowing hot
  10. glowing up
  11. glowingly

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: glowing (page history and authors); glow (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)-Vealhurl-glowing.wav.

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