Words that rhyme with brightening

  • turning
    n 1: the act of changing or reversing the direction of the course; "he took a turn to the right" [syn: turn, turning] 2: act of changing in practice or custom; "the law took many turnings over the years" 3: a shaving created when something is produced by turning it on a lathe 4: a movement in a new direction; "the turning of the wind" [syn: turning, turn] 5: the end-product created by shaping something on a lathe 6: the activity of shaping something on a lathe
  • awakening
    n 1: the act of waking; "it was an early awakening"; "it was the waking up he hated most" [syn: awakening, wakening, waking up]
  • awning
    n 1: a canopy made of canvas to shelter people or things from rain or sun [syn: awning, sunshade, sunblind]
  • beginning
    adj 1: serving to begin; "the beginning canto of the poem"; "the first verse" [syn: beginning(a), first] n 1: the event consisting of the start of something; "the beginning of the war" [ant: conclusion, ending, finish] 2: the time at which something is supposed to begin; "they got an early start"; "she knew from the get-go that he was the man for her" [syn: beginning, commencement, first, outset, get-go, start, kickoff, starting time, showtime, offset] [ant: end, ending, middle] 3: the first part or section of something; "`It was a dark and stormy night' is a hackneyed beginning for a story" [ant: end, middle] 4: the place where something begins, where it springs into being; "the Italian beginning of the Renaissance"; "Jupiter was the origin of the radiation"; "Pittsburgh is the source of the Ohio River"; "communism's Russian root" [syn: beginning, origin, root, rootage, source] 5: the act of starting something; "he was responsible for the beginning of negotiations" [syn: beginning, start, commencement] [ant: finish, finishing]
  • burning
    adj 1: of immediate import; "burning issues of the day" n 1: the act of burning something; "the burning of leaves was prohibited by a town ordinance" [syn: burning, combustion] 2: pain that feels hot as if it were on fire [syn: burn, burning] 3: a process in which a substance reacts with oxygen to give heat and light [syn: combustion, burning] 4: execution by electricity [syn: electrocution, burning] 5: execution by fire [syn: burning, burning at the stake] 6: a form of torture in which cigarettes or cigars or other hot implements are used to burn the victim's skin
  • christening
    n 1: giving a Christian name at baptism
  • cunning
    adj 1: attractive especially by means of smallness or prettiness or quaintness; "a cute kid with pigtails"; "a cute little apartment"; "cunning kittens"; "a cunning baby" [syn: cunning, cute] 2: marked by skill in deception; "cunning men often pass for wise"; "deep political machinations"; "a foxy scheme"; "a slick evasive answer"; "sly as a fox"; "tricky Dick"; "a wily old attorney" [syn: crafty, cunning, dodgy, foxy, guileful, knavish, slick, sly, tricksy, tricky, wily] 3: showing inventiveness and skill; "a clever gadget"; "the cunning maneuvers leading to his success"; "an ingenious solution to the problem" [syn: clever, cunning, ingenious] n 1: shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception [syn: craft, craftiness, cunning, foxiness, guile, slyness, wiliness] 2: crafty artfulness (especially in deception)
  • dawning
    n 1: the first light of day; "we got up before dawn"; "they talked until morning" [syn: dawn, dawning, morning, aurora, first light, daybreak, break of day, break of the day, dayspring, sunrise, sunup, cockcrow] [ant: sundown, sunset]
  • designing
    adj 1: concealing crafty designs for advancing your own interest; "a selfish and designing nation obsessed with the dark schemes of European intrigue"- W.Churchill; "a scheming wife"; "a scheming gold digger" [syn: designing, scheming] n 1: the act of working out the form of something (as by making a sketch or outline or plan); "he contributed to the design of a new instrument" [syn: design, designing]
  • discerning
    adj 1: having or revealing keen insight and good judgment; "a discerning critic"; "a discerning reader" [ant: undiscerning] 2: unobtrusively perceptive and sympathetic; "a discerning editor"; "a discreet silence" [syn: discerning, discreet] 3: quick to understand; "a kind and apprehensive friend"- Nathaniel Hawthorne [syn: apprehensive, discerning] 4: able to make or detect effects of great subtlety; sensitive; "discerning taste"; "a discerning eye for color"
  • enlightening
    adj 1: tending to increase knowledge or dissipate ignorance; "an enlightening glimpse of government in action"; "an illuminating lecture" [syn: enlightening, informative, illuminating] [ant: unenlightening, unilluminating] 2: enlightening or uplifting so as to encourage intellectual or moral improvement; "the paintings in the church served an edifying purpose even for those who could not read" [syn: edifying, enlightening] [ant: unedifying, unenlightening]
  • exciting
    adj 1: creating or arousing excitement; "an exciting account of her trip" [ant: unexciting] 2: stimulating interest and discussion; "an exciting novel"
  • frightening
    adj 1: causing fear or dread or terror; "the awful war"; "an awful risk"; "dire news"; "a career or vengeance so direful that London was shocked"; "the dread presence of the headmaster"; "polio is no longer the dreaded disease it once was"; "a dreadful storm"; "a fearful howling"; "horrendous explosions shook the city"; "a terrible curse" [syn: awful, dire, direful, dread(a), dreaded, dreadful, fearful, fearsome, frightening, horrendous, horrific, terrible] n 1: the act of inspiring with fear [syn: terrorization, terrorisation, frightening]
  • gardening
    n 1: the cultivation of plants [syn: gardening, horticulture]
  • heightening
    adj 1: reaching a higher intensity; "their heightening fears"
  • lightening
    n 1: descent of the uterus into the pelvic cavity that occurs late in pregnancy; the fetus is said to have dropped 2: changing to a lighter color [syn: whitening, lightening]
  • lightning
    n 1: abrupt electric discharge from cloud to cloud or from cloud to earth accompanied by the emission of light 2: the flash of light that accompanies an electric discharge in the atmosphere (or something resembling such a flash); can scintillate for a second or more
  • punning
    n 1: a humorous play on words; "I do it for the pun of it"; "his constant punning irritated her" [syn: pun, punning, wordplay, paronomasia]
  • running
    adj 1: (of fluids) moving or issuing in a stream; "as mountain stream with freely running water"; "hovels without running water" [ant: standing(a)] 2: continually repeated over a period of time; "a running joke among us" 3: of advancing the ball by running; "the team's running plays worked better than its pass plays" [ant: pass(a), passing(a)] 4: executed or initiated by running; "running plays worked better than pass plays"; "took a running jump"; "a running start" [ant: standing(a)] 5: measured lengthwise; "cost of lumber per running foot" [syn: linear, running(a)] 6: (of e.g. a machine) performing or capable of performing; "in running (or working) order"; "a functional set of brakes" [syn: running(a), operative, functional, working(a)] n 1: (American football) a play in which a player attempts to carry the ball through or past the opposing team; "the defensive line braced to stop the run"; "the coach put great emphasis on running" [syn: run, running, running play, running game] 2: the act of running; traveling on foot at a fast pace; "he broke into a run"; "his daily run keeps him fit" [syn: run, running] 3: the state of being in operation; "the engine is running smoothly" 4: the act of administering or being in charge of something; "he has responsibility for the running of two companies at the same time" 5: the act of participating in an athletic competition involving running on a track [syn: track, running]
  • shunning
    n 1: deliberately avoiding; keeping away from or preventing from happening [syn: avoidance, turning away, shunning, dodging]
  • stiffening
    n 1: the act of becoming stiff; "stiffening his shoulders, he prepared to advance" 2: the process of becoming stiff or rigid [syn: stiffening, rigidifying, rigidification]
  • stunning
    adj 1: commanding attention; "an arresting drawing of people turning into animals"; "a sensational concert--one never to be forgotten"; "a stunning performance" [syn: arresting, sensational, stunning] 2: causing great astonishment and consternation; "the strike came as a stunning protest against management"; "a stunning defeat" 3: causing or capable of causing bewilderment or shock or insensibility; "laid the poor fellow senseless with one stunning blow"; "a stunning detonation with volumes of black smoke" 4: strikingly beautiful or attractive; "quite stunning with large dark eyes and a beautiful high-bosomed figure"; "stunning photographs of Canada's wilderness areas"
  • sweetening
    n 1: something added to foods to make them taste sweeter [syn: sweetening, sweetener] 2: an improvement that makes something more agreeable [syn: enhancement, sweetening] 3: the act of adding a sweetener to food
  • thickening
    adj 1: accumulating and becoming more intense; "the deepening gloom"; "felt a deepening love"; "the thickening dusk" [syn: deepening(a), thickening(a)] 2: becoming more intricate or complex; "a thickening plot" n 1: any material used to thicken; "starch is used in cooking as a thickening" [syn: thickening, thickener] 2: any thickened enlargement [syn: node, knob, thickening] 3: the act of thickening [syn: thickening, inspissation]
  • thinning
    n 1: the act of diluting something; "the cutting of whiskey with water"; "the thinning of paint with turpentine" [syn: cutting, thinning]
  • tightening
    n 1: the act of making something tighter; "the tightening of economic controls" [ant: laxation, loosening]
  • tuning
    n 1: (music) calibrating something (an instrument or electronic circuit) to a standard frequency
  • twinning
    adj 1: producing two offspring at a time [syn: biparous, twinning]
  • uncomplaining
    adj 1: not complaining; "uncomplaining courage" [ant: complaining(a), complaintive]
  • whitening
    n 1: changing to a lighter color [syn: whitening, lightening]
  • canning
  • corning
  • drowning
  • gunning
  • spawning
  • sunning
  • twining
  • dunning