sparkle
Syllables: spar·kle/ˈspɑː.kəl/US/ˈspɑɹ.kəl/
sparkle noun: a little spark; a scintillation.
Noun
sparkle (countable and uncountable, plural sparkles)
- A little spark; a scintillation.
- As sparckles from the Anduile vse to fly, / When heauie hammers on the wedge are swaid1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 42
- The lamp was shaded, and the fire was dim, when suddenly the log, which had burnt through, gave way; a shower of sparkles rose from the hearth, and a bright blaze illuminated the room, falling full on Francesca's face, as she bent over the patient.1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XI, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 112
- Brilliance; luster.
- the sparkle of a diamond
- Liveliness; vivacity.
- the sparkle of his conversation over dinner
- The quality of being sparkling or fizzy; effervescence.
Verb
sparkle (third-person singular simple present sparkles, present participle sparkling, simple past and past participle sparkled)
- To emit sparks; to throw off ignited or incandescent particles.
- The wood was sparkling in the bonfire.
- To shine as if throwing off sparks; to emit flashes of light; to scintillate; to twinkle.
- The stars sparkle in the sky.
- Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held, one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividly beneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen...1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC
- To manifest itself by, or as if by, emitting sparks; to glisten; to flash.
- I see bright honour sparkle through your eyes.1634, John Milton, “Arcades”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC
- To emit little bubbles, as certain kinds of liquors; to effervesce.
- sparkling wine
- sparkling water
- To emit in the form or likeness of sparks.
- That the bright glister of their beames cleare / Did sparckle forth great light, and glorious did appeare.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 32
- To disperse.
- To scatter on or over.
sparkle meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
sparkle in Hindi
- scintillation
- चमक camak
- to emit sparks
- जगमगाना jagamgānā
- to shine as if throwing off sparks; scintillate
- जगमगाना jagamgānā
sparkle in Tamil
- ஜொலித்தல், பிரகாசி, சுடர்
sparkle in Urdu
- sparkle
- آب āb, چمک camak
sparkle in Bengali
- ঝলমল করা, চকচক করা
More languagesFewer languages
- sparkle in Malayalam
- തിളങ്ങുക, തീപ്പൊരി പറക്കുക, തിളക്കം, സ്ഫുരണം
- sparkle in Kannada
- ಮಿಂಚು, ಮಿನುಗು, ಥಳಥಳಿಸು, ಮಿರುಗು
- sparkle in Assamese
- জিলিকা zilika, উজলা uzola
- sparkle in Nepali
- स्पार्कल
- sparkle in Pashto
- ځل źal
- sparkle in Tagalog
- kislap, antitilaw
- sparkle in Thai
- ประกาย bprà-gaai, ความแวววาว, ความระยิบระยับ, เปล่งประกาย
Examples of sparkle in a sentence
- The shock was sufficiently strong to strike out some sparkles of his fiery temper.1855–1858, William H[ickling] Prescott, History of the Reign of Philip the Second, King of Spain, volume (please specify |volume=I to III)...
- The light of the sun, already far down the horizon, makes the rock wall sparkle for a moment like pure gold.1989 May, Uwe George, “Venezuela's Islands in Time”, in National Geographic, volume 175, number 5, page 535:
Synonyms of sparkle
Forms of sparkle
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | sparkles |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | sparkles |
| present participle | sparkling |
| past participle | sparkled |
| past | sparkled |
| alternative form | sparckle |
| alternative form | sparcle |
Origin of sparkle
From Middle English sparkel, sparkle, sparcle, equivalent to spark + -le (diminutive suffix). In some modern uses deverbal from etymology 2 below.
From Middle English sparklen, sperclen, equivalent to spark + -le (frequentative verb). Cognate with West Frisian sparkelje (“to sparkle”), Dutch sparkelen (“to sparkle”).
Words formed from sparkle
Words that rhyme with sparkle
Questions about sparkle
- What does sparkle mean?
- Sparkle means a little spark; a scintillation.
- What is sparkle in Hindi?
- Sparkle in Hindi is चमक (camak), जगमगाना (jagamgānā). See Sparkle meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use sparkle in a sentence?
- The shock was sufficiently strong to strike out some sparkles of his fiery temper.
- What part of speech is sparkle?
- Sparkle can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce sparkle?
- Sparkle is pronounced /ˈspɑː.kəl/ (UK).
- What is the plural of sparkle?
- The plural of sparkle is sparkles.
Words near sparkle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sparkle (page history and authors); sparkle (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); آب (Urdu) (page history and authors); sparkle (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); sparkle (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); sparkle (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); উজলা (Assamese) (page history and authors); sparkle (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ځل (Pashto) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-uk-sparkle.ogg.
Cite this entry: “sparkle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sparkle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.