brilliant

Borrowed from French brillant (late 17th century), present participle of the verb briller, from Italian brillare, possibly from Latin berillus, beryllus (“a beryl, gem, eyeglass”), from Ancient Greek βήρυλλος (bḗrullos, “beryl”).

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• IPA^(key): /ˈbɹɪljənt/
• Hyphenation: bril‧liant

brilliant (comparative more brilliant, superlative most brilliant)

1. Shining brightly.

   the brilliant lights along the promenade

2. (of a colour) Both bright and saturated.

   butterflies with brilliant blue wings

3. (of a voice or sound) Having a sharp, clear tone.
4. Of surpassing excellence; magnificent.

   The actor's performance in the play was simply brilliant.

5. Highly intelligent.

   She is a brilliant scientist.

• (shining brightly): glittering, shining
• (of a colour: both light and saturated):
• (of a voice or sound: having a sharp, clear tone):
• (surpassing excellence): excellent, distinctive, striking, superb, exceptional, glorious, magnificent, marvellous/marvelous, splendid, wonderful
• (highly intelligent): brainy, ingenious
• See also Thesaurus:intelligent

brilliant (countable and uncountable, plural brilliants)

1. A finely cut gemstone, especially a diamond, cut in a particular form with numerous facets so as to maximize light return through the top (called "table") of the stone.
   • 1717, Alexander Pope, The Basset-Table:

     This snuffbox — on the hinge see brilliants shine.

   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 257:

     On the one, a plain massive band which matched the collar; on the other, a serpent; the tail reached nearly to the elbow, and the head rose a little from the wrist; the tongue of a ruby, the eyes of large brilliants.

   • 1891 [September], A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Adventure III.—A Case of Identity.”, in Geo[rge] Newnes, editor, The Strand Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly, volume II (July to December), number [9], London: […], page 248, column 2:

     "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which sparkled upon his finger.

3. (uncountable, printing, dated) The size of type between excelsior and diamond, standardized as 4-point.
4. Most hummingbird species of the genus Heliodoxa.
5. A kind of cotton goods, figured on the weaving.

• (small type size): (German) Brillant
• → Malay: berlian
  • Indonesian: berlian

brilliant (third-person singular simple present brilliants, present participle brillianting, simple past and past participle brillianted)

1. (transitive) To cut (a diamond) with many facets, to make it into a brilliant.
   • 1851, The Western Literary Messenger, page 256:

     In short, the diamond owed more to being brillianted and polished, and well set, than to any intrinsic worth or solidity.

• “brilliant”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “brilliant”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “brilliant”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Borrowed from French brillant.

brilliant

1. brilliant.

• Mirjejev, V. A., Usejinov, S. M. (2002) Ukrajinsʹko-krymsʹkotatarsʹkyj slovnyk [Ukrainian – Crimean Tatar Dictionary]‎^[1], Simferopol: Dolya, →ISBN