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glimmer

Pronunciation: /ˈɡlɪməː/

The English word “glimmer” has 6 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A faint light; a dim glow.
  2. A flash of light.
  3. A faint or remote possibility (as it were a flash of light).
  4. Mica.
  5. A subtle, positive micromoment that evokes feelings of joy, safety, calm, or connection.

verb

  1. To shine with a faint, unsteady light.

Etymology

From Middle English glimeren, glemeren (“to glimmer”), equivalent to glim (“to shine”) + -er (frequentative suffix). Cognate with German Low German glimmern (“to glimmer”), German glimmern (“to glimmer”), Danish glimre (“to glimmer”), Swedish glimra (“to glimmer”). Doublet of glimpse. Sense 5 was coined in the 2020s in analogy to trigger.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.