Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
noun
Any emission of light that cannot be attributed merely to the temperature of the emitting body.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
Topics: natural-sciences, physical-sciences, physics
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
light from nonthermal sources
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: glow
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: luminosity, brightness, brightness level, luminance, luminousness, light
noun
light not due to incandescence; occurs at low temperatures
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: light, visible light, visible radiation
Narrower terms: bioluminescence, chemiluminescence
History
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *lewk- Proto-Indo-European *-s- Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥ Proto-Indo-European *léwksmn̥ Proto-Italic *louksmən Latin lumen Proto-Indo-European *-éh1ti Proto-Indo-European *-sḱéti Proto-Indo-European *-éh1sḱeti Proto-Italic *-ēskō Latin -ēscō Latin -escensder. English -escence English luminescence From Latin lumen + English -escence.
Across languages
35 source translations are retained for this English entry.
