Standard Lemma guide

coruscation

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˌkɒɹəsˈkeɪʃən/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -eɪʃən

1

noun

Meaning 1

A sudden display of brilliance; a flashing of light; a sparkle.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • 2001, Oliver Sacks, Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood, Alfred A. Knopf (2001), 6, All of these things—the rubbed amber, the magnets, the crystal radio, the clock dials with their tireless coruscations—gave me a sense of invisible rays and forces, a sense that beneath the familiar, visible world of colors and appearances there lay a dark, hidden world of mysterious laws and phenomena.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a sudden or striking display of brilliance

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • coruscations of great wit

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: brilliance, genius

3

noun

Meaning 3

the occurrence of a small flash or spark

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: glitter, sparkle

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: flash

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin coruscātiōnem, coruscātiō (“glitter, flash”).

Across languages

Translations

13 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: блясък (bljasǎk) — sudden display of brilliance
  • Bulgarian: искрене (iskrene) — sudden display of brilliance
  • French: coruscation — sudden display of brilliance
  • French: fulgurance — sudden display of brilliance
  • German: Aufblitzen — sudden display of brilliance
  • German: Blitzen — sudden display of brilliance
  • German: Funkeln — sudden display of brilliance
  • Hungarian: felvillanás — sudden display of brilliance
  • Hungarian: felcsillanás — sudden display of brilliance
  • Hungarian: fellobbanás — sudden display of brilliance
  • Hungarian: fellángolás — sudden display of brilliance
  • Italian: corruscazione — sudden display of brilliance
  • Portuguese: coruscação — sudden display of brilliance