| English Dictionary |
SHINY (shinier, shiniest)
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
, shiniest Dictionary entry overview: What does shiny mean?
• SHINY (adjective)
The adjective SHINY has 3 senses:
1. reflecting light
2. having a shiny surface or coating
3. made smooth and bright by or as if by rubbing; reflecting a sheen or glow
Familiarity information: SHINY used as an adjective is uncommon.
Dictionary entry details
| Declension: comparative and superlative |
Superlative: shiniest
Sense 1
Meaning:
Reflecting light
Synonyms:
glistening; glossy; lustrous; sheeny; shining; shiny
Context example:
shining white enamel
Similar:
bright (emitting or reflecting light readily or in large amounts)
Derivation:
shininess (the visual property of something that shines with reflected light)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Having a shiny surface or coating
Synonyms:
glazed; shiny
Context example:
glazed doughnuts
Similar:
glassy; vitreous; vitrified ((of ceramics) having the surface made shiny and nonporous by fusing a vitreous solution to it)
glass-like (resembling glass)
calendered; glossy ((of paper and fabric and leather) having a surface made smooth and shiny especially by pressing between rollers)
icy (shiny and slick as with a thin coating of ice)
Derivation:
shine (the quality of being bright and sending out rays of light)
shininess (the visual property of something that shines with reflected light)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Made smooth and bright by or as if by rubbing; reflecting a sheen or glow
Synonyms:
bright; burnished; lustrous; shining; shiny
Context example:
shiny black patents
Similar:
polished (perfected or made shiny and smooth)
Derivation:
shine (the quality of being bright and sending out rays of light)
shininess (the visual property of something that shines with reflected light)
Context examples
The coat is made up of thick, short, shiny hair.
(American Staffordshire Terrier, NCI Thesaurus)
It is a powder that can be made into a pill or a shiny rock (called a crystal).
(Methamphetamine, NIH: National Institute on Drug Abuse)
"His eyes was pretty shiny," she confessed; "and he didn't have no collar, though he went away with one. But mebbe he didn't have more'n a couple of glasses."
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
With his collar turned up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he was a perfect sample of the class.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
It can grow up to 9 m tall, and has large, simple, dark green, shiny and deeply veined leaves.
(Morinda citrifolia, NCI Thesaurus)
The Basenji is a small, elegant, athletic dog about the size of a fox terrier, with a smooth shiny coat of copper, red, black and tan, black and brindle.
(Basenji, NCI Thesaurus)
A shiny, dark brown to black by-product of the distillation of coal tars and contains various polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and their methyl and polymethyl derivatives, as well as hetero-nuclear compounds.
(Coal Tar Pitch, NCI Thesaurus)
The chlorine-based ‘reactive ion’ etching process to create nanopillars causes the normally shiny surface of the titanium to turn black.
(Nanopillars help orthopaedic implants resist infection, SciDev.Net)
Smaller than a pinkie nail, the device is about 1/8 inch by 1/8 inch, half as thick as a dime and metallically shiny.
(Harvesting Electrical Power from Waste Heat, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
My companion ordered him to wait, and had his hand upon the knocker, when the door opened and a grave young gentleman in black, with a very shiny hat, appeared on the step.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
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