twinkle
/ˈtwɪŋ.kəl/
twinkle verb: to shine with a flickering light; to glimmer.
Verb
twinkle (third-person singular simple present twinkles, present participle twinkling, simple past and past participle twinkled)
- To shine with a flickering light; to glimmer.
- We could see the lights of the village twinkling in the distance.
- These stars do not twinkle when viewed through telescopes that have large apertures.1704, I[saac] N[ewton], “(please specify |book=1 to 3)”, in Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. […], London: […] Sam[uel] Smith, and Benj[amin]...
- To be bright with delight.
- His shrewd little eyes twinkled roguishly.
- Synonyms:
- sparkle
- To bat, blink or wink the eyes.
- She smiled and gave a little nod and twinkled her eyes[…]1922, Mrs. Juliet M. Hueffer Soskice, Chapters from Childhood: Reminiscences of an Artist's Granddaughter, page 165
- The Owl Fell a Moping and Twinkling.1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- nictitate
- To flit to and fro.
- A butterfly twinkled among the vines[…]1988, Dorothy Gilman, Mrs. Pollifax and the Golden Triangle, page 190
Noun
twinkle (plural twinkles)
- A sparkle or glimmer of light.
- Soon the rocket was out of sight, and the flame was only seen as a tiny twinkle of light.1980, Robert De Beaugrande, Text, Discourse, and Process
- A sparkle of delight in the eyes.
- He was a rotund, jolly man with a twinkle in his eye.
- One of thoſe archers cloſely I did ſpy, / ayming his arrovv at my very hart: / vvhen ſuddenly vvith tvvincle of her eye, / the Damzell broke his miſintended dart.1595, Edmunde Spenser [i.e., Edmund Spenser], “[Amoretti.] Sonnet XVI”, in Amoretti and Epithalamion. […], London: […] [Peter Short] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, signature B, verso
- A flitting movement.
- I saw the twinkle of white feet,1848, James Russell Lowell, Hebe
- A brief moment; a twinkling.
- Synonyms:
- instant, moment, twinkling, bat of an eye, bit, blink of an eye, crack, eyeblink, flash, glimpse
- The female genitalia.
- The popular Swedish cartoon song about genitals was translated as "Willie and Twinkle".
- Synonyms:
- foo-foo, minnie, axe wound, bearded clam, beaver, berk, bonne bouche, box, bun, bush
twinkle meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
twinkle in Hindi
- to twinkle, sparkle
- जगमगाना jagmagānā
- to twinkle, flicker, flash
- टिमटिमाना ṭimṭimānā
twinkle in Tamil
- to shine with a flickering light; to glimmer
- மின்னு miṉṉu
twinkle in Marathi
- to shine with a flickering light; to glimmer
- लुकलुकणे luklukṇe
- to be bright with delight
- लुकलुकणे luklukṇe
twinkle in Urdu
- چمک, اشارہ, لرز, چمکنا, جھلملانا, پلک پھڑکنا
More languagesFewer languages
- twinkle in Malayalam
- ഇമയുക, ചിമ്മുക, ജ്വലിക്കുക
- twinkle in Kannada
- ಮಿನುಗು, ಥಳಥಳಿಸು, ಮಿರುಗು, ಥಳಗುಟ್ಟು
- twinkle in Arabic
- لَأْلَأَ laʔlaʔa
Examples of twinkle in a sentence
- Twinkle toes over there is the best dancer here.
- "Maybe for you it is," Kent says, a twinkle in his eye.
- Kid, I've been running fight outfits since long before you were a twinkle in your daddy's eye.
Synonyms of twinkle
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of twinkle
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | twinkles |
| present participle | twinkling |
| past participle | twinkled |
| past | twinkled |
| Noun | |
| plural | twinkles |
Origin of twinkle
From Middle English twinclen, twynclen, from Old English twinclian (“to twinkle”), equivalent to twink (“to wink; blink; twinkle”) + -le (frequentative suffix). Compare German zwinkern (“to wink; twinkle”).
Words formed from twinkle
Words that rhyme with twinkle
Questions about twinkle
- What does twinkle mean?
- Twinkle means to shine with a flickering light; to glimmer.
- What is twinkle in Hindi?
- Twinkle in Hindi is जगमगाना (jagmagānā), टिमटिमाना (ṭimṭimānā). See Twinkle meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is twinkle?
- Twinkle can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce twinkle?
- Twinkle is pronounced /ˈtwɪŋ.kəl/.
- What is the past tense of twinkle?
- The past tense of twinkle is twinkled.
Words near twinkle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: twinkle (page history and authors); जगमगाना (Hindi) (page history and authors); twinkle (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); twinkle (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); twinkle (Kannada 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-twinkle.ogg.
Cite this entry: “twinkle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/twinkle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.