luminous
/ˈluːmɪnəs
/adjective
1Giving off light; bright or shining: the luminous dial on his watch a luminous glow figurative her eyes were luminous with joy...
- The luminous sun shone brightly over a small cottage in the middle of a long forest as it was setting down.
- A cheap, luminous dial or illuminated watch with large numbers is quite handy.
- The building was dark, the pews a deep red, and the stained glass windows luminous as the sun shined through them.
Synonyms
shining, bright, brilliant, radiant, dazzling, glowing, gleaming, coruscating, scintillating, lustrous, luminescent, phosphorescent, incandescent;
vivid, intense, resplendent;
lighted, lit, illuminated
literary lambent, lucent
rare refulgent, effulgent, candescent, luminiferous
1.1Very bright in colour; lurid: he wore luminous green socks...
- I remember loving the luminous rich colours, 1920's feel and the lovely slightly melancholic mood it has.
- The backdrop of sky passes through the entire color spectrum in seamless gradation from violet and indigo above through queasy green and luminous gold to a deep, luscious red below.
- It was very common for older people - and not only youngsters - to wear such extreme colours as luminous orange, perhaps to celebrate the freedom of life after retirement.
1.2 Physics Relating to light as it is perceived by the eye, rather than in terms of its actual energy: luminous intensity...
- Recent advances in technology have made production of luminous radiation that is perceived by the human eye as white light and that can replace conventional light sources.
- First, a technical point, Lux is a measure of illuminance, or luminous fLux per unit area, and so the corresponding quantity would be irradiance, or Watts per square meter.
- That leaves 2.9% who actually know what luminous intensity means.
Derivatives
luminously
/ adverb ...- You drive there flaming so luminously on orange sunshine that dark trees on the roadside seem to rear back to let you pass, and your bare arms and hands glow in the car's hull like fine marble.
- In fact, he looks luminously happy throughout - as well he might be, as tonight's crowd are hugely enthusiastic, with frequent standing ovations between songs.
- The mountains, black streaked with white, loom above the town on both sides of the glittering fjord; behind them still higher peaks rise, entirely and luminously white.
luminousness
/ noun ...- Every summer I go live in the sky, I drive into this enormous space whose luminousness and emptiness, whose violence, seem to give this country its identity, even though few of us live there.
- She is being billed as a dynamic new British talent with an incredible voice, star appeal and a luminousness that truly sets her apart from other female singer/songwriters.
- What is peculiar to this church is its luminousness.
Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French lumineux or Latin luminosus, from lumen, lumin- 'light'.
Luminous is from Old French lumineux or Latin luminosus, from lumen, lumin- ‘light’.