brilliance
[bril-yuh ns]
- 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.
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Origin of brilliance
Synonyms
See more synonyms for brilliance on Thesaurus.com1. radiance, effulgence, refulgence. 2. illustriousness, preeminence; genius.
Antonyms
1, 2. dullness.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for brilliance
Contemporary Examples
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 YearKevin Fallon
December 31, 2014
The brilliance of this scene, and this season, is that there are no good guys and bad guys.
As TechCrunch pointed out, the brilliance in its bare bones appeal could reach a worth of one billion dollars.
But this soft and greedy subversive organelle is no match for the brilliance of our scientists!
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 GeneralTim Teeman
May 26, 2014
Historical Examples
They achieve repartee the brilliance of which dazzles him to contemptible silence.
The SpendersHarry Leon Wilson
Toward the south the waves moved with great velocity and brilliance.
The Cruise of the Dry DockT. S. Stribling
The sun shone with a brilliance that to such eyes as mine was a very mockery.
Bardelys the MagnificentRafael Sabatini
Their faces shone with a brilliance of awareness and he knew that they loved him.
Pleasant JourneyRichard F. Thieme
For the brilliance of its social life there were several reasons.
The Colonial Architecture of PhiladelphiaFrank Cousins
brilliance
brilliancy
- 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
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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
n.
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.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper