spark
part of speech
noun (a spark, sparks); verb (spark, sparks, sparked, sparking)
meaning for a pupil
1) A spark is a tiny bright bit of fire or burning material that flies from a fire or when hard things hit. tree →
2) A spark is a quick flash of electricity jumping across a gap. tree →
3) To spark something is to start it: spark an idea, spark a fight. tree →
4) A spark of something is a small amount of it: a spark of hope. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science, a spark shows electricity jumping through air (as in lightning, which is a giant spark); sparks can start fires. In safety: sparks from a campfire or a damaged plug are dangerous; keep away from sparking sockets and tell an adult. In stories, a spark of an idea starts the adventure. Phrases: sparks fly, spark plug, spark an interest.
examples
- Sparks flew from the campfire. tree →
- Rubbing your feet on the carpet can make a tiny spark. tree →
- A spark from the plug started a fire. tree →
- The book sparked my interest in space. tree →
- Lightning is a giant electric spark. tree →
- There was a spark of hope in her eyes. tree →
- Sparks flew when the two teams met. tree →
- Sparklers give off lots of sparks. tree →
- Now he could see glowing sparks, and vivid jets of flame. tree →
note
Countable. Sparkle is related but different: to sparkle is to shine with many small flashes of light. A spark is very hot even though it is small.
In the corpora
- "Not the brightest spark" (UK) means not very clever.
- A gas leak can explode if a flame or spark lights it.
- Lightning is a giant electric spark; thunder is the sound of the air around it heated so fast that it bursts outward.
- Metal in a microwave can spark and start a fire.
- Use only microwave-safe dishes: metal, foil and gold rims make sparks and can start a fire.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «spark» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.