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
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of brightness
before 950; Middle English brihtnes, Old English beorhtnes. See bright, -ness
Vocabulary lists containing brightness
Space Science (Astronomy) - Introductory
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Physics - Introductory
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Physics - Middle School
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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.
See Examples For:
For a hint of brightness, throw in lemon juice or dried citrus peel.
From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2026
As those components orbited the star, they could produce highly unusual, non natural variations in brightness that would stand out from the behavior of ordinary stars.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 10, 2026
All these are adorable accessories to the character’s brave insistence on betting on herself in a world of naysayers set on diminishing her brightness.
From Salon ● Jul. 6, 2026
Over the past 20 years, astronomers have found that a supernova's observed brightness is influenced by the galaxy where it occurs.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 29, 2026
Just as if he were cupping the moon, a clear, soft brightness spilled from his hands and poured into the sky.
From "When the Sea Turned to Silver" by Grace Lin
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
‘Pray,’ they said, and I laughed, covering myself in the earth’s brightnesses, and then stole off gray into the midst of a revel, and prayed like an orphan.
From New York Times ● Oct. 21, 2021
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 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
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.
