brilliant
See also: Brilliant
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Etymology tree
Borrowed from French brillant (late 17th century), present participle of the verb briller, from Italian brillare, possibly from Latin berillus, beryllus (“a beryl, gem, eyeglass”), from Ancient Greek βήρυλλος (bḗrullos, “beryl”). By surface analysis, French brill(er) + -i- + -ant.
Pronunciation
[edit]- IPA(key): /ˈbɹɪl.jənt/, /ˈbɹɪ.li.ənt/
- (Australia) IPA(key): /ˈbɹɪ(l)jənt/ (colloquial)
- Hyphenation: bril‧liant
Adjective
[edit]brilliant (comparative more brilliant, superlative most brilliant)
- Shining brightly.
- the brilliant lights along the promenade
- (of a colour) Both bright and saturated.
- butterflies with brilliant blue wings
- (of a voice or sound) Having a sharp, clear tone.
- Of surpassing excellence; magnificent.
- The actor's performance in the play was simply brilliant.
- 1988, Salman Rushdie, chapter V, in The Satanic Verses, page 268:
- "Thing is," Anahita resumed, and then, faltering, "Mean to say, well, we just think it's great." — "You, she means," Mishal corrected. "We think you're, you know." — "Brilliant," Anahita said and dazzled the bewildered Chamcha with a smile. "Magic. You know. Extreme."
- Highly intelligent.
- She is a brilliant scientist.
- (UK, of a person) Great, wonderful.
- [1]
- He absolutely could have told us to get lost, and didn't. What a brilliant guy!
- [1]
Synonyms
[edit]- (shining brightly): glittering, shining
- (of a colour: both light and saturated):
- (of a voice or sound: having a sharp, clear tone):
- (surpassing excellence): excellent, distinctive, striking, superb, exceptional, glorious, magnificent, marvellous/marvelous, splendid, wonderful
- (highly intelligent): brainy, ingenious
- See also Thesaurus:intelligent
Derived terms
[edit]Related terms
[edit]- beryl (possibly)
- beryllium (possibly)
- brilliantine
Translations
[edit]shining brightly
|
of a colour: both light and saturated
|
of a voice or sound: having a sharp, clear tone
of surpassing excellence
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magnificent or wonderful (primarily UK usage)
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highly intelligent
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Noun
[edit]
brilliant (countable and uncountable, plural brilliants)
- (countable) A finely cut gemstone, especially a diamond, cut in a particular form with numerous facets so as to maximize light return through the top (called "table") of the stone.
- 1717, Alexander Pope, The Basset-Table:
- This snuffbox — on the hinge see brilliants shine.
- 1742, Henry Fielding, “The History of Leonora, or the Unfortunate Jilt”, in The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews, and of His Friend Mr. Abraham Adams. […], volume I, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book II, page 183:
- […] Bellarmine vvhen he breakfaſted vvith her and her Niece, had complimented her vvith a Brilliant from his Finger, […]
- 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 257:
- On the one, a plain massive band which matched the collar; on the other, a serpent; the tail reached nearly to the elbow, and the head rose a little from the wrist; the tongue of a ruby, the eyes of large brilliants.
- 1891 [September], A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Adventure III.—A Case of Identity.”, in Geo[rge] Newnes, editor, The Strand Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly, volume II (July to December), number [9], London: […], page 248, column 2:
- "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which sparkled upon his finger.
- (countable) One of many hummingbird species of the genus Heliodoxa.
- (countable) A kind of cotton goods, figured on the weaving.
- (uncountable, printing, dated) The size of type between excelsior and diamond, standardized as 4-point.
Derived terms
[edit]Descendants
[edit]Translations
[edit]cut gemstone
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4-point type
hummingbird of the genus Heliodoxa
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Verb
[edit]brilliant (third-person singular simple present brilliants, present participle brillianting, simple past and past participle brillianted)
- (transitive) To cut (a diamond) with many facets, to make it into a brilliant.
- 1851, The Western Literary Messenger, page 256:
- In short, the diamond owed more to being brillianted and polished, and well set, than to any intrinsic worth or solidity.
Further reading
[edit]- “brilliant”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “brilliant”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
- “brilliant”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Crimean Tatar
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Borrowed from French brillant.
Noun
[edit]brilliant
Declension
[edit]| nominative | brilliant |
|---|---|
| genitive | brilliantnıñ |
| dative | brilliantqa |
| accusative | brilliantnı |
| locative | brilliantta |
| ablative | brillianttan |
References
[edit]Categories:
- English terms derived from Prakrit
- English terms derived from Italian
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Proto-Dravidian
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-Iranian
- English terms derived from Sanskrit
- English terms borrowed from French
- English terms interfixed with -i-
- English terms suffixed with -ant
- English 2-syllable words
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- British English
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Printing
- English dated terms
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- en:Hummingbirds
- en:Light
- Crimean Tatar terms borrowed from French
- Crimean Tatar terms derived from French
- Crimean Tatar lemmas
- Crimean Tatar nouns