iridescent
/ˌɪrɪˈdɛs(ə)nt
/adjective
Showing luminous colours that seem to change when seen from different angles: the drake’s head has an iridescent purple sheen...
- Breeding adults have yellow bills, iridescent feathers that shine purple and green and are flecked with white spots.
- An iridescent colour is a colour that changes with the angle of view.
- The skin was covered in small black scales, no longer glittering with the iridescent purple hues that most had.
Synonyms
shimmering, shimmery, glittering, sparkling, coruscating, dazzling, shining, gleaming, glowing, lustrous, scintillating, dancing, opalescent, opaline;
multicoloured, kaleidoscopic, rainbow-like, rainbow-coloured, many-hued, prismatic, colourful, psychedelic;
variegated, shot
literary glistering
rare coruscant, fulgurating, effulgent, scintillant
Derivatives
iridescence
/ noun ...- Luster, iridescence, and surface blemishes determine price, but so does size, color, shape, and unique matches of two or more pearls.
- The ladybirds were being irresistibly drawn to the iridescence of the white material and by the time he was standing, smartly leaning on his cane, with his toes amid the washed up dead ladybirds.
- Females are drabber, with subtle iridescence on overall grayish-brown bodies, spotted flanks, and a white teardrop surrounding each eye.
iridescently
- The earrings glittered, shimmered, sparkled, twinkled and glinted, iridescently spangling and shinning beneath the white fluorescent lighting fixture.
- The vision's dress was blue and silver at once, changing iridescently in the light as did the vision's eyes which swept the crowd with distant, ethereal sweetness.
- Everything from citrus-colored sandals to spacey, iridescently rainbow platforms to classic colonial or Edwardian-style pumps were in demand.
Origin
Late 18th century: from Latin iris, irid- 'rainbow' + -escent.