Words to Learn: Coruscate

What is Words to Learn?

This is my second #learnwords post, an initiative started by the lovely @Jayna, soon joined by @caleblailmusik and myself.

The purpose of this initiative is to share a word of the English language with the community, educating on the word's pronunciation, definition(s), purpose, and then showing examples on how to use it in a sentence.

I love doing these as I also get to learn new words each time I write a post.

The word coruscate

When I decided I was going to write this post today, I went on the hunt for "literary words", and this one jumped out at me. The most common meaning is "to flash or sparkle". I love things that sparkle so I thought this would be a fun one to share!

Let's see what this word is all about:

• Pronunciation: This word is pronounced "kawr-uh-skeyt"
• Definition: Verb. To emit flashes of light; sparkle; scintillate; gleam.
• Another form of the word: Coruscated, coruscating.
• Example sentences (all of these were found on English Oxford Living Dictionaries):

The light was coruscating through the halls.

The novel fairly coruscated with all that goes to make a good crime thriller.

Dark lightning coruscated around James' hands as the point of light rose up into the air.

Uses in Fiction

This opens up so many possibilities in fiction. I now have another word to associate with light! Instead of just something was bathed in light, or light reflected, or something sparkled, I can use coruscate. Here's a short example from a larger story I've been working on:

The rising sunlight flickered off something hidden among the trees. She pulled her horse to a stop. "Did you see that?"

Arin halted beside her. "See what?"

Sina squinted as she tried to catch a glimpse of it again through the blue leaves. She pointed towards where she saw the coruscating light. "I'm not sure, but it was in that direction.”

Okay, that looks kinda cool there. Now I want to describe every type of flash or sparkle as coruscating. What a fun word! I'll have to work hard not to overuse it!

Thanks for reading! I hope you found this a fun and educational post! If you would like to join us, just use the outline I used above, and make sure you add the tag #learnwords to your post.

WRITE WELL AND STEEM ON!