Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The state of being white hot; incandescence.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Same as incandescence.
  • noun The luminescence of radioactive substances; autoluminescence.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun See incandescence.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun incandescence

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Latin candēscēns, candēscent-, present participle of candēscere, inchoative of candēre, to shine; see candid.]

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Examples

  • The solid masses which are observed by night to fall to the earth from fire-balls, and by day generally when the sky is clear, from a cark small cloud, are accompanied by much candescence.

    COSMOS: A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe, Vol. 1 Alexander von Humboldt 1814

  • Regaining new stable equilibrium he rose uninjured though concussed by the impact, raised the latch of the area door by the exertion of force at its freely moving flange and by leverage of the first kind applied at its fulcrum, gained retarded access to the kitchen through the subadjacent scullery, ignited a lucifer match by friction, set free inflammable coal gas by turningon the ventcock, lit a high flame which, by regulating, he reduced to quiescent candescence and lit finally a portable candle.

    Ulysses 2003

  • Now this approximation to commonplace is the great horror of shallow writers; and the way to avoid it appears to be this: -- Proclaim your thought at once, in all its crude candescence, before it has had time to cool and shape itself; then, in order to save your credit with the more captions and scrutinizing, give, at some convenient interval, such an explanation or modification as will show that, after all, you were as wise as your reader.

    Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 56, Number 347, September, 1844 Various

  • Regaining new stable equilibrium he rose uninjured though concussed by the impact, raised the latch of the area door by the exertion of force at its freely moving flange and by leverage of the first kind applied at its fulcrum, gained retarded access to the kitchen through the subadjacent scullery, ignited a lucifer match by friction, set free inflammable coal gas by turningon the ventcock, lit a high flame which, by regulating, he reduced to quiescent candescence and lit finally a portable candle.

    Ulysses James Joyce 1911

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