Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Shining unsteadily: Describes a light or flame that is not constant, but instead shines with quick, irregular changes in brightness or intensity. It often suggests a weak, wavering, or intermittent quality of light.

Usage

• The adjective "flickering" is used to describe the quality of a light source. It implies movement and instability in the light it emits. It is often used in descriptive writing to set a mood, such as one of uncertainty, eeriness, or a fragile, temporary source of illumination.

Examples

• Adjective:
  • The only light in the cave came from a single flickering candle.
  • We watched the flickering flames of the campfire as we told stories.
  • The old television screen showed a flickering black-and-white image.

Advanced Usage

• "flickering hope/interest": Used metaphorically to describe a feeling or state that is weak, intermittent, and in danger of disappearing.
  • Despite the setbacks, a flickering hope remained that they would be rescued.
• "flickering light": A very common collocation describing the unsteady light itself.
  • The flickering light from the streetlamp cast strange shadows on the wall.

Variants and Related Words

• Flicker (verb): To shine with a light that is not steady; to burn or shine unsteadily.
  • The lights flickered for a moment before going out completely.
• Flicker (noun): A quick, unsteady movement of light; a brief burst or fluctuation.
  • There was a flicker of lightning in the distant sky.

Synonyms

• Guttering: (of a flame or light) flickering and about to go out.
• Wavering: shining with a faint, unsteady light.
• Twinkling: shining with a light that seems to flash on and off quickly.

Related Phrases

• Flicker out: (phrasal verb) To stop shining or burning gradually and unsteadily.
  • The last embers of the fire flickered out in the early morning.

Adjective

1. shining unsteadily