MEANING
1. To shine with small, lively flashes of light.
2. To show lively charm, wit, or enthusiasm.
3. The lively bubbling quality of a fizzy drink.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- sparkle in the sunlight
- sparkling water
On the page
The river sparkled wherever the sun reached it.
Nearby words
Word forms
- Base
- sparkle
- Past tense
- sparkled
- Past participle
- sparkled
- Present participle
- sparkling
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- sparkle
- Present continuous
- am/is/are sparkling
- Present perfect
- have/has sparkled
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been sparkling
- Past
- sparkled
- Past continuous
- was/were sparkling
- Past perfect
- had sparkled
- Past perfect continuous
- had been sparkling
- Future
- will sparkle
- Future continuous
- will be sparkling
- Future perfect
- will have sparkled
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been sparkling
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: sensory / description. Forms: sparkle; sparkles; sparkled; sparkled; sparkling. Noun use is uncountable. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: description. Commonness: moderately common. Third-person singular: sparkles.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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