American Dictionary

Define dictionary terms easily in our powerful online English dictionary.

Searching for...

No matching words found

Try a different search term or browse the dictionary

Definition shine in American English

shine verb

verb
/ʃaɪn/

The past participle and past tense of shine have two forms, shone and shined. Shone is more frequent and is almost always used when the verb is intransitive. For transitive meanings, shined is generally used when talking about about rubbing something to make it brighter (sense 2a). When talking about lights (sense 4) both are used, but shone is more frequent.

1

if the sun shines, it produces a bright light and the weather is usually warm

Example

The sun was shining brightly.

Synonyms and related words
1.1

used about the moon, stars, lights, and other things that produce light

Example

The headlights of the oncoming cars were shining through the fog.

Synonyms and related words
Example

The wooden tables had been polished until they shone.

Example

Her hair shone like gold.

Synonyms and related words
2.1

to rub something until it shines

Example

Who shined your shoes?

Synonyms and related words
3

if people's eyes or faces shine, they look extremely happy or excited

Example

The child's face was shining with excitement.

Synonyms and related words
4

to make the light from a flashlight or other light shine in a particular direction

Example

Kobe shone the flashlight slowly around the room.

Synonyms and related words
5

to show that you have a lot of skill when you do something

Example

It's time we gave some of the younger players a chance to shine.

Synonyms and related words
Definition shine in American English