brilliance

[bril-yuhns]

See more synonyms for brilliance on Thesaurus.com

noun

great brightness; luster: the brilliance of a fine diamond.
excellence or distinction; conspicuous talent, mental ability, etc.
splendor, elegance, or magnificence: the brilliance of the court of Louis XIV.

Optics. that luminance of a body consisting of its saturation and brightness.

Origin of brilliance

First recorded in 1745–55; brilli(ant) + -ance

Related formso·ver·bril·liance, noun

Synonyms for brilliance

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1. radiance, effulgence, refulgence. 2. illustriousness, preeminence; genius.

Antonyms for brilliance

1, 2. dullness.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for brilliance

talent, intelligence, wisdom, excellence, inventiveness, cleverness, inspiration, glory, grandeur, brilliancy, smarts, sagacity, smartness, shine, effulgence, radiance, luminosity, sparkle, blaze, luster

Examples from the Web for brilliance

Contemporary Examples of brilliance

None of them came close to the brilliance of what Beyoncé had accomplished.
Bow Down, Bitches: How Beyoncé Turned an Elevator Brawl Into a Perfect Year
Kevin Fallon
December 31, 2014
The brilliance of this scene, and this season, is that there are no good guys and bad guys.
Julianna Margulies's Favorite 'The Good Wife' Scenes
Julianna Margulies
August 11, 2014
As TechCrunch pointed out, the brilliance in its bare bones appeal could reach a worth of one billion dollars.
The Zen of Yo
Dale Eisinger
August 2, 2014
But this soft and greedy subversive organelle is no match for the brilliance of our scientists!
The Fake Superbug Cure
Kent Sepkowitz
June 21, 2014
Gen. George S. Patton is famed for his brilliance in World War II.
The Price of Being a Patton: Wrestling With the Legacy of America’s Most Famous General
Tim Teeman
May 26, 2014

Historical Examples of brilliance

They achieve repartee the brilliance of which dazzles him to contemptible silence.
The Spenders
Harry Leon Wilson
Toward the south the waves moved with great velocity and brilliance.
The Cruise of the Dry Dock
T. S. Stribling
The sun shone with a brilliance that to such eyes as mine was a very mockery.
Bardelys the Magnificent
Rafael Sabatini
Their faces shone with a brilliance of awareness and he knew that they loved him.
Pleasant Journey
Richard F. Thieme
For the brilliance of its social life there were several reasons.
The Colonial Architecture of Philadelphia
Frank Cousins

British Dictionary definitions for brilliance

brilliance

brilliancy

noun

great brightness; radiance
excellence or distinction in physical or mental ability; exceptional talent
splendour; magnificencethe brilliance of the royal court
physics a former term for luminance

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

Word Origin and History for brilliance

1755, from brilliant + -ance. Figurative sense (of wit, intelligence, etc.) is from 1779. Distinguished from brilliancy in that the latter usually is applied to things measurable in degrees.