- (of a wet or glossy surface) to gleam by reflecting light
- (of light) to reflect with brightness: the sunlight glistens on wet leaves
- rare a gleam or gloss
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
glis•ten /ˈglɪsən/USA pronunciation
v. [no object]
n. [countable]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- to reflect a sparkling light or a faint, flickering glow, as a wet surface;
shine:The black street glistened in the rain.
n. [countable]
- a glistening;
sparkle.
glis•ten
(glis′ən),USA pronunciation v.i.
n.
glis′ten•ing•ly, adv.
- to reflect a sparkling light or a faint intermittent glow;
shine lustrously.
n.
- a glistening;
sparkle.
- bef. 1000; Middle English glis(t)nen (verb, verbal), Old English glisnian, derivative of glisian to glitter; see -en1
- 1. glimmer, gleam, glitter. Glisten, shimmer, sparkle refer to different ways in which light is reflected from surfaces. Glisten refers to a lustrous light, as from something sleek or wet, or it may refer to myriads of tiny gleams reflected from small surfaces:Wet fur glistens. Snow glistens in the sunlight.Shimmer refers to the changing play of light on a (generally moving) surface, as of water or silk:Moonbeams shimmer on water. Silk shimmers in a high light.To sparkle is to give off sparks or small ignited particles, or to send forth small but brilliant gleams, sometimes by reflection:A diamond sparkles with numerous points of light.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
glisten /ˈɡlɪsən/ vb (intransitive)
'glisten' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):