fluorescent
Americanadjective
-
possessing the property of fluorescence; exhibiting fluorescence.
-
strikingly bright, vivid, or glowing.
plastic toys in fluorescent colors.
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of fluorescent
Explanation
A fluorescent bulb gets its light from mercury vapor inside a glass tube. The incandescent bulb — the kind associated with Thomas Edison — has a filament that glows when it's heated. You can also use fluorescent to describe something that's so vivid and bright it seems to give off light. Fluorescent is related to the word fluorspar, or fluorite, which is a mineral that glows. Notice the -u- in these words. Fluorescent comes from the Latin fluere "to flow" — fluorspar can be added to welding compounds, for instance, to make them flow more easily. Florescent, without a -u-, means "flowering," from Latin flor-, which is a completely different root.
Vocabulary lists containing fluorescent
Frindle
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The Lemonade War
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The Marvels
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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.
As the band sang about fighting injustice and corruption, they were surrounded by dancers in hockey masks, holding aloft fluorescent lights.
From BBC • Apr. 9, 2026
To identify promising candidates, the team tested about 500 compounds using a specially engineered hepatitis E virus that produces a fluorescent signal.
From Science Daily • Apr. 6, 2026
One fluorescent dancing man is a party, but a room full of them grows tedious.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026
Something you accept with a paper napkin under fluorescent lighting and a murmur of gratitude.
From Salon • Mar. 31, 2026
He tossed me a green T-shirt and a pair of shorts so white, they were blinding in the alien glow of the bathroom’s fluorescent lights.
From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram
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.
