shine
UK/ʃaɪn/
shine verb: to emit or reflect light so as to glow.
Verb (1)
shine (third-person singular simple present shines, present participle shining, simple past and past participle shone or shined)
- To emit or reflect light so as to glow.
- The water shone pacifically; the sky, without a speck, was a benign immensity of unstained light; the very mist on the Essex marshes was like a gauzy and radiant fabric, hung from the wooded rises inland, and draping the low shores in diaphanous folds.1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 194
- ‘No. I only opened the door a foot and put my head in. The street lamps shine into that room. I could see him. He was all right. Sleeping like a great grampus. Poor, poor chap.’1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 20, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC
- To reflect light.
- To distinguish oneself; to excel.
- My nephew tried other sports before deciding on football, which he shone at right away, quickly becoming the star of his school team.
- “[…] I was grateful to you for giving him a year’s schooling—where he shined at it—and for putting him as a clerk in your counting-house, where he shined still more.”1867, Frederick William Robinson, No Man's Friend, Harper & Brothers, page 91
- To be effulgent in splendour or beauty.
- So proud she shyned in her Princely state.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 10
- Once brightest shined this child of heat and air.1728, [Alexander Pope], “(please specify the page)”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin; London: […] A. Dodd, →OCLC
- To be eminent, conspicuous, or distinguished; to exhibit brilliant intellectual powers.
- Few are qualified to shine in company; but it in most men's power to be agreeable.c. 1713, Jonathan Swift, Thoughts on Various Subjects
- To be immediately apparent.
- To create light with (a flashlight, lamp, torch, or similar).
- I shone my light into the darkness to see what was making the noise.
- As Jenks shined the large spotlight on the water, he saw a few bubbles and four long wakes leading away from an expanding circle of blood.2007, David Lynn Goleman, Legend: An Event Group Thriller, St. Martin’s Press, published 2008, →ISBN, page 318
- To cause to shine, as a light or by reflected light.
- in hunting, to shine the eyes of a deer at night by throwing a light on them
- He [God] doth not rain wealth, nor shine honour and virtues, upon men equally.1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Goodness and Goodness of Nature”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- belight, shed light on, alight, beshine, bright, enlighten, fire, illume, illuminate, illumine
Noun (1)
shine (countable and uncountable, plural shines)
- Brightness from a source of light.
- the distant shine of the celestial city1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- effulgence, radiance, radiancy, refulgence, refulgency
- Brightness from reflected light.
- Synonyms:
- luster
- Excellence in quality or appearance; splendour.
- Synonyms:
- brilliance, splendor
- Shoeshine.
- Take a shine. You need it.1980, Paul Schrader, American Gigolo, spoken by Julian Kaye (Richard Gere)
- Sunshine (typically in contrast with rain).
- be fair or foul, or rain or shine1685, John Dryden, Sylvae
- Moonshine; an illicitly brewed alcoholic drink.
- Synonyms:
- bathtub gin, bootleg, corn liquor, hooch, mountain dew, white lightning, coon-dick, coondick
- A black person.
- "If you want your black head blown off, shine, you just make a move to stop us."1970, Wally Feris, Across 110th, page 152
- The amount of shininess on a cricket ball, or on each side of the ball.
- A liking for a person; a fancy.
- She's certainly taken a shine to you.
- Synonyms:
- affinity, liking, bag, bent, love, cup of coffee, cup of joe, cup of tea, dish, fancy
- A caper; an antic; a row.
Verb (2)
shine (third-person singular simple present shines, present participle shining, simple past and past participle shined)
Noun (2) capitalized: SHINE
SHINE
Proper noun capitalized: Shine
Shine (plural Shines)
- A surname.
shine meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
shine in Hindi
- to emit light
- चमकना camaknā, जगमगाना jagamgānā, झिलमिलाना jhilmilānā, प्रकाशित करना prakāśit karnā
- brightness from a source of light
- रोशनी rośnī, प्रकाश prakāś
shine in Tamil
- to emit light
- மின்னு miṉṉu, ஒளிர் oḷir
- to reflect light
- ஒளிர் oḷir
- ergative: to create light with a flashlight, lamp, torch, etc.
- ஒளிர் oḷir
- brightness from a source of light
- வெளிச்சம் veḷiccam, ஒளி oḷi
shine in Marathi
- चमकायला, चमकण्यासाठी
shine in Urdu
- to emit light
- چمکنا camaknā, جگمگانا jagmagānā, جهلملانا jhilmilānā
More languagesFewer languages
- shine in Telugu
- ప్రకాశించు prakāśiñcu, మెరియు meriyu, వెలిగిపోవు veligipōvu, ప్రకాశము prakāśamu
- shine in Malayalam
- തിളങ്ങുക tiḷaṅṅuka, തിളക്കം tiḷakkaṁ
- shine in Kannada
- ಹೊಳೆಯಲು, ಹೊಳೆಯುವಂತೆ
- shine in Punjabi
- ਚਮਕਣ ਲਈ, ਚਮਕਣਾ, ਚਮਕਨ ਲਈ
- shine in Gujarati
- ચમકવા માટે, ચમકવું, ચમકવા
- shine in Sanskrit
- जिघर्ति jigharti, रोचते rocate
- shine in Assamese
- জিলিকা zilika, উজলা uzola
- shine in Nepali
- चम्काउन
- shine in Arabic
- لَمَعَ lamaʕa, وَمَضَ wamaḍa
- shine in Malay
- sinar
- shine in Persian
- درخشیدن deraxšidan
- shine in Thai
- ส่อง sɔ̀ng, ฉาย chǎai
- shine in Vietnamese
- toả sáng, chiếu sáng, soi sáng
- shine in Myanmar
- ထွန်း htwan:
- Kashmiri
- پرَٛزٕلُن prazụlun, برَٛزُن brazun, زوتُن zōtun, چَمکُن camkun
Examples of shine in a sentence
- She polished the furniture with beeswax to give it a shine.
- The room is light when the Sun shines through the window.
- It is a fortunate sign if the sun shines on a newly wedded couple.
Synonyms of shine
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of shine
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | shines |
| present participle | shining |
| past participle | shone |
| past | shone |
| past participle | shined |
| past | shined |
| Noun | |
| plural | shines |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Shines |
Origin of shine
From Middle English shinen, schinen (preterite schon, past participle schinen), from Old English sċīnan (“to shine, flash; be resplendent”; preterite sċān, past participle sċinen), from Proto-West Germanic *skīnan (“to shine”), from Proto-Germanic *skīnaną (“to shine”). Cognate with Dutch schijnen, German scheinen, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål skinne, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish skina, Faroese and Icelandic skína.
From the noun shine, or perhaps continuing Middle English schinen in its causative uses, from Old English scīn (“brightness, shine”), and also Middle English schenen, from Old English scǣnan (“to render brilliant, make shine”), from Proto-Germanic *skainijaną, causative of *skīnaną (“to shine”).
Words formed from shine
- ashine
- beshine
- fix the roof while the sun is shining
- sea to shining sea
- intershine
- knight in shining armor
- knight in shining armour
- outshine
- overshine
- reshine
- rise and shine
- shine a light on
- shine down on
- shine down upon
- shine light on
- shine off
- shine on
- shiner
- shine through
- shine up
- shining firmoss
- shining ones
- shining tubeshoulder
- where the sun doesn't shine
- where the sun don't shine
- backshine
- foreshine
- anti-shine powder
- candleshine
- come rain or shine
- cookie-shine
- coreshine
- cut a shine
- dewshine
- earthshine
- eyeshine
- fireshine
- get one's shine box
- monkeyshine
- rain or shine
- ringshine
- seashine
- shine box
- shineful
- shineless
- shine muscat
- shininess
- Shinola
- shiny
- spit shine
- spitshine
- starshine
- sylvanshine
- take a shine to
- take the shine out of
- through-shine
- wondershine
Phrases with shine
- shine boxes
- cuts a shine
- shine muscats
- cutting a shine
- shoe shine brush
- shoe shine brushes
- got one's shine box
- Shine the Light Law
- gets one's shine box
- took the shine out of
- gotten one's shine box
- taken the shine out of
3 more phrasesFewer phrases
Words that rhyme with shine
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- divine
- combine
- pine
- spline
- swine
- consign
- frankenstein
- nine
- refine
- vine
- whine
- benign
- chine
- in line
- intertwine
- recline
- resign
- rine
- undermine
- wine
- affine
- anodyne
- dine
- gold mine
- incline
- malign
- opine
- outshine
- propine
- red line
- shrine
- syne
- tine
- trunk line
- tyne
- atrine
- berine
- bine
- brine
- cline
- confine
- disentwine
- einstein
- equine
- offline
- quine
- repine
- rhine
Questions about shine
- What does shine mean?
- Shine means to emit or reflect light so as to glow.
- What is shine in Hindi?
- Shine in Hindi is चमकना (camaknā), जगमगाना (jagamgānā), झिलमिलाना (jhilmilānā). See Shine meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is shine?
- Shine can be a verb, a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce shine?
- Shine is pronounced /ʃaɪn/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of shine?
- The past tense of shine is shone.
Words near shine in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: shine (page history and authors); SHINE (page history and authors); Shine (page history and authors); shine (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shine (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shine (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shine (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shine (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-shine.ogg, en-au-shine.ogg.
Cite this entry: “shine.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shine. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.