What's the difference between gleam and sparkle?

Gleam


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To disgorge filth, as a hawk.
  • (n.) A shoot of light; a small stream of light; a beam; a ray; a glimpse.
  • (n.) Brightness; splendor.
  • (v. t.) To shoot, or dart, as rays of light; as, at the dawn, light gleams in the east.
  • (v. t.) To shine; to cast light; to glitter.
  • (v. t.) To shoot out (flashes of light, etc.).

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Archaeologists still argue about what it originally held, but visitors can now peer inside and see gleaming in the darkness a statue of Taharqa, loaned by Southampton museums.
  • (2) Every bit of her gleams with a sweet and shiny polish: which is probably a natural residue of her southern-belle charm, but is probably also partly attributable to the professional gloss the 20-year-old seems to have acquired with remarkable ease over her nascent two-year film career.
  • (3) Half a dozen bodyguards fan out from the trucks, and when they are in position, the Ace slowly climbs down from the driving seat of his gleaming landcruiser.
  • (4) Crumbling infrastructure will be replaced with new roads, bridges, tunnels, airports and railways gleaming across our beautiful land,” Trump said in his speech before Congress last Tuesday as he renewed a campaign promise, vowing to ask Congress for a $1tn infrastructure investment package financed through public and private capital.
  • (5) In this she differs from both Jeremy Corbyn and the gleaming-eyed Brexiteers, who share a belief in a route-map to the promised land.
  • (6) Now Murray and his team-mates – whoever they may be in the final, although his brother, Jamie, is nailed on after reaching two major doubles finals this year – will stare more history in the face, a chance to lift the gleaming goblet for the first time since Fred Perry helped win it in 1936, the year he abandoned British tennis for a life among the professionals in America.
  • (7) Downing Street has refused to release the guest list for this year's bash at the private Hurlingham members' club in Fulham, west London, but the gleaming Rolls-Royces and Jaguars streaming through the gates gave a hint of the wealthy passengers heading inside.
  • (8) The eyes gleamed with fury, like the glimpse of flame you have on opening the air vent in a wood stove.
  • (9) Of course the polarisation of old and young rests on a fallacy, if not a downright lie: that all young people possess perfect skin and gleaming hair, have non-stop sex, are bursting with energy and are never lonely.
  • (10) Tsipras of Athens – a gripping drama entering its final act | Larry Elliott Read more Perhaps you have an image of Deutschland as being a nation of highly skilled, highly rewarded workers in gleaming factories.
  • (11) At one point, one knelt in front of the gleaming coffin topped with white roses.
  • (12) At the meeting Burragubba played the didgeridoo, a performance he repeated outside the bank’s gleaming glass and steel headquarters in the City.
  • (13) In the flesh, though, he's more Bruce Forsyth than Bruce Willis: sweet-eyed, gleaming-teethed, with a keen ear for innuendo and a frankly mucky chuckle.
  • (14) Speaking in Donetsk's Victoria hotel – a gleaming multistorey edifice next to the city's state-of-the-art Donbass football stadium – Taruta says he's confident presidential elections due on 25 May will take place.
  • (15) We put stuff in there that was not really that good, but fortunately there were a couple of gleaming things that everyone remembers while they've forgotten the dross."
  • (16) For mid-century Americans, these gleaming marketplaces provided an almost utopian alternative to the urban commercial district, an artificial downtown with less crime and fewer vermin.
  • (17) Photograph: Supplied by LMK Earlier this year, the Post – whose traffic numbers reached a record 83.1m unique visitors in September 2016, a 40% year-on-year increase – moved from its former base to a gleaming, light-filled building on K Street, where reporters sit cheek-by-jowl with software engineers.
  • (18) This sort of rabid protectionism might feel depressingly inevitable in the gleaming, super-efficient first world of tournaments such as Germany 2006.
  • (19) Behind 300 metres of gleaming chain-link fence, men in high-vis jackets paced and measured, while one man stood and watched.
  • (20) The oil boom has led to an influx of luxury brands and gleaming Rolls Royce showrooms and upmarket shopping malls studded with Gucci, Lacoste and Prada stores line the streets of downtown Baku.

Sparkle


Definition:

  • (n.) A little spark; a scintillation.
  • (n.) Brilliancy; luster; as, the sparkle of a diamond.
  • (n.) To emit sparks; to throw off ignited or incandescent particles; to shine as if throwing off sparks; to emit flashes of light; to scintillate; to twinkle; as, the blazing wood sparkles; the stars sparkle.
  • (n.) To manifest itself by, or as if by, emitting sparks; to glisten; to flash.
  • (n.) To emit little bubbles, as certain kinds of liquors; to effervesce; as, sparkling wine.
  • (v. t.) To emit in the form or likeness of sparks.
  • (v. t.) To disperse.
  • (v. t.) To scatter on or over.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The sparkling vehicle, larger than a school bus, decorated in tropical colours and equipped with three dental chairs, pulled up in front of its very first school: the Foundation School, where Deamonte had been a student.
  • (2) English wine is to be the toast of the country’s farmers this week, with more than £100m in sales expected this year for sparkling and still varieties combined, the environment secretary will announce on Wednesday.
  • (3) Finally, Guardian sports reporter turned ace observationalist Josh Widdicombe has the ability to find the sparkle in the mundane that puts him in line to become the next Sean Lock.
  • (4) The levels of migration of mineral hydrocarbons from polystyrene cups and glasses have been measured into aqueous food simulants as well as lager, beer, cola, sparkling apple juice, lemon barley water, coffee, hot chocolate, tea, lemon tea and chicken soup.
  • (5) After a glorious few days, Nick Clegg has had a less than sparkling Monday morning, according to Rachel Younger on Adam Boulton's blog on the Sky News website .
  • (6) Experts suggest that the popularity of prosecco means it risks becoming a generic term for any sparkling wine that is not champagne.
  • (7) Inside was the world's biggest map, depicting all of New York state, laid out in sparkling terrazzo, across which troupes of acrobats and dancers would perform, and the animals of the kiddies' petting zoo would snuffle.
  • (8) The sand was brown-red and the speckles of salt sparkled in the sun.
  • (9) Two-dimensional echocardiography provided additional features: (1) a more accurate diagnosis of pericardial effusion (67%) and (2) a characteristic "granular sparkling" appearance of the ventricular wall (55%).
  • (10) The truth is that some of these jokes might not have seemed very funny to the Romans either, no matter how the most sparkling ancient comic might have delivered them.
  • (11) But early audience figures for Big Brother suggests viewers are missing the celebrity sparkle – such as it was – provided by the likes of Kerry Katona and the show's eventual winner, Paddy Doherty .
  • (12) Instead, it fell steadily to just above the $1,000 mark, before this year’s sparkling recovery.
  • (13) Pedro was often the architect on a day when he introduced himself to the Chelsea supporters with a sparkling performance that included a goal and an assist on his debut.
  • (14) Yvonne Robertson, who had travelled from Glasgow with her district lodge, spoke of "an absolutely amazing day" as her red, white and blue glitter headband sparkled in the sunshine.
  • (15) Mané, in particular, has become erratic, while Tadic has suffered from the fact that opponents have studied him after his sparkling start to the campaign and increased their efforts to shackle him, partially by curtailing the ability of Southampton’s flying full-backs to support him down the flanks.
  • (16) A little magic from Messi, who sparkles along the byline and stands one up into the centre.
  • (17) Add as much of the sparkling water as you need to make a smooth, pliable mixture.
  • (18) And the sunlight, streaming down through the sparkling clear water, has turned the mother-of-pearl tones below into pure silver.
  • (19) For the first time, it looked like there was a sparkle in his eyes.
  • (20) Saponara has been at his sparkling best in the role, relishing the creative licence handed to him in a more central area.