Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The quality of being luminous, in any sense; brightness; clearness.

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

  • noun the quality of being luminous; emitting or reflecting light.

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

  • noun The condition of being luminous

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the quality of being luminous; emitting or reflecting light

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

luminous +‎ -ness

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Examples

  • He seeks to assess mysticism's veracity not merely on account of its "luminousness".

    William James, part 6: Mystical states Mark Vernon 2010

  • Abe Lincoln had the ears (and the beard, and the stove-pipe hat); Bill Clinton had a nose that glowed red, almost to luminousness, as his allergies assailed him.

    Election Central Saturday Roundup 2009

  • Radium Coke - Not to be outdone by rival Pepsi, Coca-Cola introduces its latest product with an epic commercial that salutes its own 1971 hilltop "I'd like to buy the world a Coke" ad, with a cross-section of new, hip young people singing at night, their bodies aglow in radioactive luminousness caused by ingesting the metallic element.

    Spencer Green: Sneak Peek: Super Super Bowl Commercials! 2009

  • — The sea from its extreme luminousness presented a wonderful & most beautiful appearance; every part of the water, which by day is seen as foam, glowed with a pale light.

    Archive 2007-10-01 2007

  • — The sea from its extreme luminousness presented a wonderful & most beautiful appearance; every part of the water, which by day is seen as foam, glowed with a pale light.

    Darwin's bioluminescence. 2007

  • Everything about them is operatic and larger than life: Tom's determination to find a cure for Izzy and his fear of losing her, Izzy's ever-increasing luminousness in the face of death, their love for one another.

    Archive 2006-10-01 Abigail Nussbaum 2006

  • Everything about them is operatic and larger than life: Tom's determination to find a cure for Izzy and his fear of losing her, Izzy's ever-increasing luminousness in the face of death, their love for one another.

    A Saturday Afternoon Double Feature Abigail Nussbaum 2006

  • It appeared dark, for a moment, against the blue sky behind it; then the fleeting cloud which shadowed it passed on, and the face of the column brightened into such luminousness that the sky behind sank to the complexion of a dark foil.

    Two on a Tower 2006

  • The two white gates were distinct, and the white balls on the pillars, and the puddles and damp ruts left by the recent rain, had a cold, corpse-eyed luminousness.

    The Woodlanders 2006

  • The triangular, black fins of sharks, like small, hard sails of hell – boats, amid the swimming luminousness.

    Kangaroo 2004

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