Word.ws English Dictionary

opaline

opaline adjective: resembling opal in having a milky white iridescence.

Adjective

opaline (comparative more opaline, superlative most opaline)

  1. Resembling opal in having a milky white iridescence.
    • She was so alive that night, opaline points in her eyes, mouth parted to bare her teeth.2023, C Pam Zhang, Land of Milk and Honey, Hutchinson Heinemann, page 134
    Synonyms:
    opalesque, opalish

Noun

opaline (countable and uncountable, plural opalines)

  1. A clear to white liquid secreted by sea hares (genus Aplysia) that becomes viscous upon contact with water.
    • The attack on a sea hare by a spiny lobster causes release of the whitish opaline, followed the co-release of both opaline and ink.
  2. Any of several minerals resembling opal, including a variety of yellow chalcedony.
  3. Synonym of opal glass.
    Synonyms:
    opal glass

Synonyms of opaline

Forms of opaline

Adjective
comparativemore opaline
superlativemost opaline
Noun
pluralopalines

Origin of opaline

From opal + -ine.

Questions about opaline

What does opaline mean?
Opaline means resembling opal in having a milky white iridescence.
What part of speech is opaline?
Opaline can be an adjective or a noun.

Words near opaline in the dictionary

  1. opaleye
  2. opaleyes
  3. opalfish
  4. Opalia
  5. opalic
  6. opaline
  7. opalines
  8. opalinid
  9. opalinids
  10. opalisation
  11. opalisations

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: opaline (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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