brightness
Americannoun
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the quality of being bright.
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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.
noun
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the condition of being bright
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physics a former name for luminosity
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psychol the experienced intensity of light
Etymology
Origin of brightness
before 950; Middle English brihtnes, Old English beorhtnes. See bright, -ness
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Vinegar can add flavor, heft, punch, levity, brightness — and, of course, a real wallop of acid.
From Salon
And other work showed that this superlative brightness didn't stem from overly powerful jets.
From Scientific American
By measuring the brightness of the star and planet together compared with that of the star alone, astronomers could calculate how much came from the planet.
From Scientific American
Another possible explanation for the galaxies’ surprising brightness is that it was driven not by stars, but massive black holes at their hearts.
From Science Magazine
Long-term brightness measurements since then suggest the northern hemisphere of Uranus, now emerging into sunlight, is brighter than the southern hemisphere, which Voyager 2 observed when it flew by in 1986.
From New York Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
