radiance

[ rey-dee-uhns ]

noun

1. radiant brightness or light:

   the radiance of the tropical sun.

   Synonyms: brilliance, splendor, resplendence

2. warm, cheerful brightness:

   the radiance of her expression.

3. Rare. radiation.

radiance

/ ˈreɪdɪəns /

noun

1. the quality or state of being radiant
2. a measure of the amount of electromagnetic radiation leaving or arriving at a point on a surface. It is the radiant intensity in a given direction of a small element of surface area divided by the orthogonal projection of this area onto a plane at right angles to the direction Le

Other Words From

• non·radi·ance noun
• sub·radi·ance noun
• super·radi·ance noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of radiance¹

First recorded in 1595–1605; radi(ant) + -ance

Example Sentences

His contest emphasized imagination and the radiance of beauty from within.

From Washington Blade

When “Carnaval Del Barrio” rolls around near the finale, its radiance is so practically blinding that your instinct should be to look away.

From The Daily Beast

Blackout is both a short story collection and a novel of a moment in time, capturing the radiance, joy and possibility of teen romance.

From Time

Rebecca’s life of worry shows on her face—with cheekbones that accept and reflect light as if it were a gift, she’s never anything less than beautiful, but her radiance glows through a veil of anxiety.

From Time

On Saturday, some leaves flamed scarlet in the radiance of the day.

From Washington Post

And not that after-sex glow, but the radiance of contentment.

From The Daily Beast

In it, grim headlines and social problems give way to an improbable radiance.

From The Daily Beast

But they do make the family seem a shade more like the rest of America, in all its messy, tacky, imperfect radiance.

From The Daily Beast

Her beauty seems to telegraph an inner radiance of well-honed intelligence and gentle self-assurance.

From The Daily Beast

They walked together to a recess in the garden, where they sat down under the full radiance of the unclouded moon.

From Project Gutenberg

She glanced up at him softly, under long lashes,—a thrilling glance; but he missed its radiance, for his own eyes were far away.

From Project Gutenberg

The clear and radiant sky was drowned in a quivering radiance of gold, that was like a thing alive and sensitively palpitating.

From Project Gutenberg

Ramona herself bore no impress of sorrow; rather her face had now an added radiance.

From Project Gutenberg

Every individual freckle on her thin, sharp face seemed to shine as though there was some radiance behind it.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• warmth