sheen
1 Americannoun
noun
-
a gleaming or glistening brightness; lustre
-
poetic splendid clothing
adjective
Related Words
See polish.
Other Word Forms
- sheenful adjective
- sheenless adjective
- sheenly adverb
- sheeny adjective
Etymology
Origin of sheen
First recorded before 900; (adjective) Middle English sheene “beautiful, bright, shining,” Old English scēne; cognate with German schön; (verb) Middle English s(c)henen, derivative of the adjective; (noun) derivative of the adjective
Explanation
A sheen is a quality of things that are shiny, usually with reflected light. Anything that shines has a sheen, like satin in candlelight or a beautiful head of hair. Shakespeare loved using words in fresh new ways, and he did that with the adjective for sheen (for “beautiful, bright”) in Hamlet. He used sheen as a noun, and it’s been that way ever since. A sheen is a luster that happens because of reflected light. A well-polished table has a sheen, as does a car that's just been washed. Shined shoes have a sheen. If it’s shiny and beautiful, it has a sheen.
Vocabulary lists containing sheen
Unit 1: Telling Details
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The City of Ember
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Skellig
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Apart from non-native speakers, there may be other subgroups of writers whose prose has the focus-grouped sheen of ChatGPT output.
From Slate • Apr. 17, 2026
Perth and Kinross Council said there had been no reports of any sightings of fuel sheen in the River Tay or Loch Tay since Saturday afternoon.
From BBC • Feb. 22, 2026
Anytime the film veers into computer-generated territory, it takes on a sheen of cheesy artifice.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 6, 2026
Later, the counter began to crowd with flaky croissants, sticky pastry, brioches with amber sheen.
From Salon • Feb. 5, 2026
The sheen of its blue surface pulled at him.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
