incandescence

[ in-kuhn-des-uhns ]
See synonyms for incandescence on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. the emission of visible light by a body, caused by its high temperature.: Compare luminescence.

  2. the light produced by such an emission.

  1. the quality of being incandescent.

Origin of incandescence

1
First recorded in 1650–60; incandesc(ent) + -ence

Other words from incandescence

  • non·in·can·des·cence, noun

Words Nearby incandescence

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use incandescence in a sentence

  • Once a Beowulfer vanished in a supernova flash, and when the ball of incandescence widened to nothing the ship was gone.

    Space Viking | Henry Beam Piper
  • There were momentarily unbearable flashes of pure energy and from them globes of incandescence spread and vanished.

    Space Viking | Henry Beam Piper

British Dictionary definitions for incandescence

incandescence

incandescency

/ (ˌɪnkænˈdɛsəns) /


noun
  1. the emission of light by a body as a consequence of raising its temperature: Compare luminescence

  2. the light produced by raising the temperature of a body

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for incandescence

incandescence

[ ĭn′kən-dĕsəns ]


  1. The emission of visible light from a substance or object as a result of heating it to a high temperature. The color of the light emitted from solids and liquids is a function of their chemical structure and their temperature; the higher the temperature, the more intense and even the distribution of frequencies is (that is, higher temperatures create brighter and whiter light than lower temperatures). Compare fluorescence. See also blackbody radiation.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.