BRILLIANT • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Brilliant

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/brˈɪljənt/ Listen

adjective

Brilliant adj.

Sparkling with luster; glittering; very bright; as, a brilliant star.

Distinguished by qualities which excite admiration; splendid; shining; as, brilliant talents. "Washington was more solicitous to avoid fatal mistakes than to perform brilliant exploits."

Exceedingly intelligent, or of distinguished accomplishment in a field; as, a brilliant chemist.

Synonyms: See Shining.

noun

Brilliant n.

A diamond or other gem of the finest cut, formed into faces and facets, so as to reflect and refract the light, by which it is rendered more brilliant. It has at the middle, or top, a principal face, called the table, which is surrounded by a number of sloping facets forming a bizet; below, it has a small face or collet, parallel to the table, connected with the girdle by a pavilion of elongated facets. It is thus distinguished from the rose diamond, which is entirely covered with facets on the surface, and is flat below. "This snuffbox on the hinge see brilliants shine."

(Print.) The smallest size of type used in England printing. Note: This line is printed in the type called Brilliant.

A kind of cotton goods, figured on the weaving.

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Etymology of 'Brilliant'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Brilliant" Quotes from Famous Books

... big object at the far end of the darkened room moved slowly underneath a mass of white, as Uncle Felix, aware that some one was watching him, rolled over in his bed, opened his sleepy eyes, and stared. At the same moment the robin twitched, and fixed its brilliant glance upon him. It had found the ...

— The Extra Day • Algernon Blackwood

... for two hours the man who was no longer manikin and the girl who in real life was only a frail little bookkeeper played to David: a brilliant polonaise, a nocturne that was moonlight and shadow set to music, a concerto that only the masters attempt, a few noble old classics. Between them she sang thrice, songs chosen by Jonathan, each a little more taxing ...

— The House of Toys • Henry Russell Miller

... fighting, as was his wont, in the thickest of the fray. Pyrrhus had achieved a victory, but his were unfruitful laurels; the victory was creditable to the king as a general and as a soldier, but it did not promote his political designs. What Pyrrhus needed was a brilliant success which should break up the Roman army and give an opportunity and impulse to the wavering allies to change sides; but the Roman army and the Roman confederacy still remained unbroken, and the Greek army, which was nothing without its leader, was fettered for a ...

— The History of Rome (Volumes 1-5) • Theodor Mommsen

... later in conjunction with our Allies you counter-attacked. The Allied armies gained a brilliant victory that marks the turning point of the war. You did more than to give the Allies the support to which, as a nation, our faith was pledged. You proved that our altruism, our pacific spirit, and our sense of justice have not blunted our virility ...

— "And they thought we wouldn't fight" • Floyd Gibbons

... time could hardly be said to exist at all. To this consideration we must add the remarkable fact (which, though in classical history, throws light upon our inquiry) that, not to produce other instances, the greater part of Cicero's powerful and brilliant orations against Verres were never delivered at all. Nor must it be forgotten that Cicero specifies memory in his enumeration of the distinct talents necessary for a great orator. And then we have in corroboration ...

— The Idea of a University Defined and Illustrated: In Nine - Discourses Delivered to the Catholics of Dublin • John Henry Newman

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