Word of the Day Archive
Friday December 10, 1999
clinquant \KLING-kunt\
, adjective:
1. Glittering with gold or silver; tinseled.
noun:
1. Tinsel; imitation gold leaf.
Leaves flicker celadon in the spring, viridian in summer, clinquant in fall, tallying the sovereign seasons, graying and greening to reiterate the message of snow and sun.
-- Ann Zwinger, Beyond the Aspen Grove
The room had a twelve-foot high ceiling: hanging from it, four dimly lit antique brass chandeliers cast a clinquant glow on this sunless day.
-- Sally Koslow, The Late, Lamented Molly Marx: A Novel
The water, turned clinquant by the sunset, lay rather than stood.
-- William Least Heat-Moon, River-Horse: The Logbook of a Boat Across America
Clinquant is from French, glistening, tinkling, present participle of obsolete clinquer, to clink, perhaps from Middle Dutch klinken.
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for clinquant
