incandescence
the emission of visible light by a body, caused by its high temperature.: Compare luminescence.
the light produced by such an emission.
the quality of being incandescent.
Origin of incandescence
1Other 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
I pick up whatever thing a dream washes onto my shoreline and turn it over to look, hoping for the shimmery incandescence of pearl shell and fearing, instead, the exposure of a writhing, unspeakable underside—an impulse unmentionable.
The Whale Who Will Come Soon - Issue 105: Whale Songs | Rebecca Giggs | September 8, 2021 | NautilusThey fly closer to the sun than the rest of us, and there is an incandescence about them.
‘Homeland’ and ‘Shameless’: Television Tackles Bipolar Disorder With Realism | Jace Lacob | April 10, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTIt was first produced by heating with the current to incandescence a fine platinum wire.
Steam Steel and Electricity | James W. SteeleThe phenomenon of incandescence without oxygen seems peculiar to these lights alone.
Steam Steel and Electricity | James W. SteeleSmall wonder that the meteor is brought to lively incandescence and consumed even in a fraction of a second.
A Text-Book of Astronomy | George C. Comstock
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 PiperThere 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
incandescency
/ (ˌɪnkænˈdɛsəns) /
the emission of light by a body as a consequence of raising its temperature: Compare luminescence
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
[ ĭn′kən-dĕs′əns ]
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.
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