cold light

American

noun

light emitted by a source that is not incandescent, as from a firefly.

cold light British

noun

light emitted at low temperatures from a source that is not incandescent, such as fluorescence, phosphorescence, bioluminescence, or triboluminescence

"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

Etymology

Origin of cold light

First recorded in 1890–95

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.

That’s the way it looks in the cold light of Wednesday after President Trump’s announcement late Tuesday of a two-week cease-fire.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 8, 2026

“I would be fairly confident that most of those young people, in the cold light of day, in sobriety watching those videos will be mortified.”

From BBC • Aug. 14, 2024

They called on God to stop gun violence as they stood in the cold, light rain.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 29, 2023

The cold light of the day was too much for me.

From Washington Post • Nov. 14, 2022

Up ahead there are huge oblong towers, all of glass, lit up, like enormous gravestones of cold light.

From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023