Shine Meaning
/ʃaɪn/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo emit or reflect light so as to glow.
verbTo reflect light.
Sentence Examples
Give my shoes a good shine.
Shine on my brilliant soul.
The clouds cleared up and let the sun shine.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The bright sun will ____ in the clear blue sky all day.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He decided to ____ his shoes before the job interview to make a good first impression.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English shinen, schinen (preterite schon, past participle schinen), from Old English sċīnan (“to shine, flash; be resplendent”; preterite sċān, past participle sċinen), from Proto-West Germanic *skīnan (“to shine”), from Proto-Germanic *skīnaną (“to shine”). Cognate with Dutch schijnen, German scheinen, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål skinne, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish skina, Faroese and Icelandic skína.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The water shone pacifically; the sky, without a speck, was a benign immensity of unstained light; the very mist on the Essex marshes was like a gauzy and radiant fabric, hung from the wooded rises inland, and draping the low shores in diaphanous folds."
— 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 194:
"‘No. I only opened the door a foot and put my head in. The street lamps shine into that room. I could see him. He was all right. Sleeping like a great grampus. Poor, poor chap.’"
— 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 20, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
"“[…] I was grateful to you for giving him a year’s schooling—where he shined at it—and for putting him as a clerk in your counting-house, where he shined still more.”"
— 1867, Frederick William Robinson, No Man's Friend, Harper & Brothers, page 91:
"It prompted an exchange of substitutions as Jermain Defoe replaced Palacios and Javier Hernandez came on for Berbatov, who had failed to shine against his former club."
— 2011 January 15, Phil McNulty, “Tottenham 0 - 0 Man Utd”, in BBC:
"I can take the heat, baby, best believe
That's the moment I shine"
— 2023 May 25, Dua Lipa, Caroline Ailin, Andrew Wyatt, Mark Ronson, “Dance the Night”, in Barbie the Album, performed by Dua Lipa:
Explore More A2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The bright sun will ____ in the clear blue sky all day.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He decided to ____ his shoes before the job interview to make a good first impression.