brightness

American  

[brahyt-nis] / ˈbraɪt nɪs /

noun

• brightnesses
  plural

1. the quality of being bright.

2. Optics. the luminance of a body, apart from its hue or saturation, that an observer uses to determine the comparative luminance of another body. Pure white has the maximum brightness, and pure black the minimum brightness.

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brightness British  

/ ˈbraɪtnɪs /

noun

1. the condition of being bright

2. physics a former name for luminosity

3. psychol the experienced intensity of light

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• brightnesses
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of brightness

before 950; Middle English brihtnes, Old English beorhtnes. See bright, -ness

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

brightness brightnesses

Instead of a smooth rise and fall, the brightness repeatedly traced something resembling a triangle.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 10, 2026

If the older silica-poor disks and their seemingly random periods of changing infrared brightness are caused by orbital instability, the pattern would be broadly compatible with the Late Heavy Bombardment hypothesis for our solar system.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 7, 2026

But their unrelieved brightness and utter lack of texture have the bland flatness of plastic, and render them lifeless.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026

I use the zest of a whole lemon rather than its juice — lots of brightness, no unnecessary liquid — plus dried thyme, garlic, onion and enough black pepper to make itself known.

From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2026

She slid it open and stared down the hallway to where the brightness of the lamps sent long flickering shadows dancing across the paneled wood before her eyes.

From "Finding Junie Kim" by Ellen Oh

Using data from the Swift Ultra-Violet/Optical Telescope, the researchers collected brightnesses for millions of stars in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, two of the closest galaxies to Earth.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 15, 2023

This, they said, was consistent with quasars of different "brightnesses," meaning with varying strength to their radio emissions.

From Salon ● Apr. 30, 2023

Besides dramatically boosting the total number of known FRB events, the observations also revealed a very wide range of brightnesses among the recorded events, offering new clues about the astrophysical nature of their mysterious source.

From Scientific American ● Oct. 13, 2021

I had become fond of these orange poppies and their disintegration forces me to face inevitable endings and renunciations of all seasons, of all the sunlit fields I ever saw, of all brightnesses, persons, myself.

From New York Times ● Jun. 11, 2017

I look at the moons one more time, the smaller one chasing the larger one, two brightnesses up there, still light enough to cast shadows, ignorant of the troubles of men.

From "The Knife of Never Letting Go" by Patrick Ness

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Related Words

• brilliance
• illumination
• luster

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