Crossword Dictionary
glimmer
noun
A dim perception; inkling.
SYNONYMS
flicker, glint, hint, inkling, suggestion, trace, flash
EXAMPLES:
‘With the launch of the Promote Iceland campaign, M&C Saatchi was able to offer a glimmer of hope where there was hardly any to be found.’
‘The Steelers contributed to their own demise, but the startling disparity between the teams showed after Pittsburgh provided a glimmer.’
‘I saw a faint, sweet glimmer of the ferocious protector he once was.’
‘And I can see the bright early glimmer of the Africa bug in my own children.’
‘His hazel eyes actually glimmer and his brown hair, barely beginning to salt and pepper, curls up around a Seattle Seahawks cap.’
hint
hint, intimation, breath - n
an indirect suggestion; "not a breath of scandal ever touched her"
synonyms
clue, cue, indication, inkling, intimation, lead, suggestion
in a sentence
Her face gave me a hint of what she was thinking.
“I have a lot of work to do.†“OK, I'll leave. I can take a hint.â€
The sauce has a subtle hint of garlic.
He had a hint of a German accent.
They'll betray you at the first hint of trouble.
etymology
c. 1600 (Shakespeare), "an indirect suggestion intended to be caught by the knowing," apparently from obsolete hent, from Middle English hinten "to tell, inform" (c. 1400), from Old English hentan "to seize," from Proto-Germanic *hantijan (source also of Gothic hinþan "to seize"), related to hunt (v.). OED dates the sense "small piece of practical information" to 1777.