Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Flickering |
FlickeringAdjective1. Shining unsteadily. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "flickering" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1509. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Computing | In computer graphics, an undesirable pulsation of a display image on a cathode-ray tube that usually occurs when the refresh rate is low. Source: European Union. (references) |
Slang in 1811 | FLICKERING. Grinning or laughing in a man's face. Source: 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonym: FlickeringSynonym: aflicker(p) (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Irregularity of recurrence | Dj. irregular, uncertain, unpunctual, capricious, desultory, fitful, flickering; rambling, rhapsodical; spasmodic; immethodical, unmethodical, variable. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Flickering |
| English words defined with "flickering": Flickeringly ♦ guttering, guttering out ♦ photogenic epilepsy ♦ scintillate ♦ twinkle, twinkler ♦ winkle. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "flickering": refresh rate ♦ SNEERING. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | The origin of everything we see about us. The finality of death; how almost magical it seems in the real world, as opposed to the world of celluloid and flickering shadows (The Purple Rose of Cairo; writing credit: Woody Allen.) The predicament of Man forced to live in a barren, Godless eternity like a tiny flame flickering in an immense void with nothing but waste, horror and degradation, forming a useless bleak straitjacket in a black absurd cosmos (Play It Again, Sam; writing credit: Woody Allen) | |
Lyrics | I saw the flickering shadows of love on her blind (Delilah; performing artist: Tom Jones) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Flickering Youth (1924) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Theater & Movies | |
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | And by the camp-fires flickering light. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |
| "Candle Lamp FX" by Erika Thorpe Commentary: "Flickering candle lamp viewed from outside a glass shade." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Scarlet Letter | Hawthorne, Nathaniel | The decision once made, a glow of strange enjoyment threw its flickering brightness over the trouble of his breast |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | In a few seconds, the room and the wall opposite were lit up with a great, red flickering glare |
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | Joyce, James | On the lines which he had fancied the moorings of an ark a few lanterns swung in the night breeze, flickering cheerlessly |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | Noah took his knife, and Al the ax, and the four men moved down on the sty, their legs flickering in the lantern light |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Fatigue, glaring or flickering lights, changes in the weather, and certain foods can set off migraine. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Flickering" is generally used as a lexical verb (-ing form) -- approximately 57.64% of the time. "Flickering" is used about 288 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Lexical Verb (-ing form) | 57.64% | 166 | 24,220 |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 36.11% | 104 | 31,955 |
| Noun (singular) | 5.9% | 17 | 85,106 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.35% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 288 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "flickering": ever-flickering. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
flickering | 12 |
flickering monitor | 11 |
flickering light | 10 |
bulb flickering light | 5 |
flickering screen | 5 |
flame flickering | 3 |
eye flickering | 3 |
blue flickering gvsu | 2 |
candle flickering led | 2 |
animated flickering gif lamp | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "flickering"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | regëtim, dridhje (didder, dither, fibrillation, flicker, flutter, jarring, jerk, palpitation, pulse, quake, quiver, shake, shaking, shiver, shudder, throb, tremble, trembling, tremolo, tremor, twitch, vibrancy, vibration). (various references) | |
Arabic | مترجرج, متردد (ambivalent, chary, double-minded, doubtful, dubious, faint-hearted, faltering, haunting, hesitant, hesitating, indecisive, infirm, irresolute, remittent, stammerer, tentative, timid, uncertain, undecided, unsettled, vacillating, wavering), ومض (flashlight, fulgurate), وامض (flashily), رمش (eyelash, flash, flicker). (various references) | |
Chinese | 闪烁 (Flickered, Gleamed, Gleaming, Glitter, Glittered, Glittering, spangled, Spangling). (various references) | |
Czech | blikající. (various references) | |
Danish | flimren (atmospheric boil, atmospheric shimmer, flicker, flutter, shimmer), flicker (flicker), uoensket blinkning. (various references) | |
Dutch | flikkerverschijnsel (flicker). (various references) | |
Finnish | värinä (fibrillation, flicker, quiver, shiver, trembling, tremor, vibration), välkyntä (flicker), kuvan värinä. (various references) | |
French | vacillant (flickered). (various references) | |
German | Flimmern (flicker, shimmer), flackernd (flaring, flickered, unsteady). (various references) | |
Greek | που τρεμοσβήνει, που τρεμοπαίζει, Τρεμοπαίξιμο, τρεμόσβημα (flicker), τρεμάμενος. (various references) | |
Hebrew | מהבהב, עפעוף (blinking, palpebration, wink, winking), הבהוב (glimmer, glimmering, scorching, singeing), דעיכה (extinguishing, fading), נצנוץ (flash, gleam, glimmer, glimmering, glint, glistening, glitter, shimmer, sparkle, twinkle, twinkling). (various references) | |
Hungarian | pislákoló (aglimmer, shimmery). (various references) | |
Indonesian | kelap-kelip (blinking). (various references) | |
Italian | vacillante (failing, shaky, unsteady), tremolio (shaking, trembling), tremolío (flicker), tremolante (quavery, quivering, shaking, trembling, twinkling), sfarfallio (flicker), sfarfallío (flicker), sfarfallamento (flicker). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | チョコレート色 (apparent and grievous error, Chile, chocolate brown, chop, chopper, very sickening, vest, waistcoat), 揺り (jolting, tremor, vibration), 揺れ (jolting, tremor, vibration), 揺ら揺ら (swaying), 揺 (jolting, tremor, vibration), 明滅 (blinking), ちょび髭 (a topknot, at a glance, bits and pieces, by accident, dot, drop by drop, easy, fluttering, frizzily, in trickles, intermittently, point, short mustache, simple, small mustache, sparsely, to be dazzled, to flicker, to flit, to litter). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | チラツキ , めいめつ (blinking), ゆり (jolting, lily, tremor, vibration), ゆれ (jolting, tremor, vibration), ゆらゆら (swaying), ちらちら (fluttering, intermittently). (various references) | |
Korean | 경경. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ickeringflay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | vacilante (faltering, fitful, floating, limp, rickety, shaky, shilly-shally, tipsy, trembling, vacillating, wavering, wobbly, wonky), tremulante (aflutter), oscilante (crank, floating, libratory, oscillatory, pendulous, swinging, unstable, vacillating, waggly, wavering, wobbly), cintilação (effulgence, flashing, glint, glisten, glitter, lambency, scintillation, sparkle, sparkling, twinkle, twinkling). (various references) | |
Russian | мерцать мерцающий (twinkling), мерцание (fibrillation, flicker, glimmer, glimmering, scintillance, scintillation, twinkle, twinkling), мигание (flashing, nictitation, winking), проблесковый сигнал. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | treperenje (dither, flicker, quiver, roll, trembling, vacillation, vibration, warble, wave, winking), titranje. (various references) | |
Spanish | parpadeo (blink, blinking, flicker, nictation, nictitation, quiver, twinkle, wink, winking). (various references) | |
Swedish | flimmer (flicker), fladdrande (flap, flicker, flit, flowing, flutter, lambent, wavering). (various references) | |
Turkish | titrek (doddering, doddery, faltering, plangent, quavery, shaking, shaky, shivery, tipsy, trembling, tremulous, wavering, wavy, wobbly), titreşen (oscillating, pulsating, vibrant, vibrating, vibratory, wavering, wavy). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | мигання (nictation, nictitation, twinkle), блимання (blink, flicker, glimmer, shimmer). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | rung rinh lập loè, lung linh, bập bùng, đu đưa (dingle-dangle, libratory). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "flickering": flickeringly. (additional references) | |
| |
"Flickering" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: clackering, flick'ring, flikering. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "flickering" (pronounced fli"kering) |
| 5 | -i" k er i ng | bickering, dickering, snickering. |
| 4 | -k er i ng | anchoring, brokering, conquering, hankering, hunkering, massacring, tinkering. |
| 3 | -er i ng | answering, administering, altering, angering, auguring, backfiring, badgering, bantering, bartering, battering, belaboring, beleaguering, bettering, bewildering, blistering, blundering, blustering, bolstering, bordering, bothering, butchering, capturing, catering, censoring, centering, chartering, chattering, clamoring, clobbering, clustering, cluttering, coloring, configuring, conjuring, considering, cornering, countering, covering, cowering, culturing, deciphering, delivering, desiring, devouring, diapering, differing, discovering, disfavoring, disfiguring, dismembering, dithering, doctoring, doddering, embroidering, empowering, encountering, endangering, endeavoring, entering, factoring, faltering, fathering, favoring, feathering, featuring, festering, figuring, filibustering, filtering, fingering, flattering, flavoring, floundering, flowering, fluttering, fostering, foundering, fracturing, frittering, furthering, garnering, gathering, gerrymandering, gesturing, glimmering, glittering, glowering, grandfathering, guttering, hammering, hampering, harboring, hectoring, hindering, hollering, honoring, hovering, hungering, injuring, inquiring, laboring, laundering, lawyering, layering, lecturing, lettering, levering, lingering, littering, loitering, lowering, lumbering, majoring, maneuvering, manufacturing, mastering, maundering, meandering, measuring, mentoring, metering, minoring, mirroring, mitering, mongering, monitoring, mothering, motoring, murdering, murmuring, mustering, muttering, nattering, neighboring, neutering, nonmanufacturing, numbering, nurturing, offering, ordering, outnumbering, pampering, pandering, papering, partnering, peppering, perjuring, pestering, petering, philandering, picturing, pilfering, plastering, plundering, pondering, posturing, powdering, powering, pressuring, proffering, prospering, puncturing, puttering, quivering, recapturing, reconsidering, recovering, rediscovering, reentering, registering, rejiggering, remembering, rendering, reoffering, reordering, requiring, restructuring, rewiring, rupturing, savoring, scampering, scattering, scouring, sculpturing, sequestering, severing, shattering, sheltering, shimmering, shivering, shouldering, showering, shuddering, shuttering, simmering, slaughtering, slithering, slobbering, slumbering, smattering, smoldering, smothering, sobering, soldering, soldiering, souring, spattering, spiering, splintering, sponsoring, sputtering, squandering, staggering, structuring, stuttering, suffering, surrendering, swaggering, sweltering, tailoring, tampering, tapering, teetering, tempering, tendering, thundering, torturing, tottering, towering, transpiring, triggering, tutoring, uncovering, unflattering, unwavering, ushering, uttering, venturing, wagering, wallpapering, wandering, warmongering, watering, wavering, weathering, whimpering, whispering, withering, wondering, Wuthering, zippering. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "c-e-f-g-i-i-k-l-n-r" | |
-1 letter: freckling. | |
-2 letters: clerking, clingier, flecking, flicking, kinglier, refiling, ringlike. | |
-3 letters: ceiling, clinger, clinker, cringle, crinkle, erlking, fickler, finlike, flicker, flinger, kerfing, licking, lingier, recking, ricking, rifling. | |
-4 letters: cering, cringe, fickle, filing, finger, firing, firkin, fringe, girlie, ickier, inkier, inlier, irenic, irking, knifer, licker, liking, linger, linier, linker, nickel, nicker, nickle, relink, ricing, riling. | |
-5 letters: clerk. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-e-f-g-i-i-k-l-n-r" | |
+2 letters: flickeringly. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Images: Digital Art 8. Quotations: Fiction | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Usage Frequency 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Derivations 15. Rhymes 16. Anagrams | 17. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
