lambent

[lam-buh nt]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR lambent ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

running or moving lightly over a surface: lambent tongues of flame.

dealing lightly and gracefully with a subject; brilliantly playful: lambent wit.

softly bright or radiant: a lambent light.

Origin of lambent

1640–50; < Latin lambent- (stem of lambēns) lapping, present participle of lambere to lick, wash (said of water or fire); akin to lap³; see -ent

Related formslam·bent·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for lambent

bright, brilliant, flickering, glowing, lustrous, radiant, shinning

Examples from the Web for lambent

Contemporary Examples of lambent

A lambent spotlight shines on each individual in his portraits, reminding the world of their forgotten existence.
Ghosts of the Sahara
Lizzie Crocker
April 9, 2011

Historical Examples of lambent

Just as we were parting at the door, Helen turned full on me her great, lambent eyes.
The Bacillus of Beauty
Harriet Stark
A sudden tremor seemed to shake the lambent flame that had lured him on.
Flip: A California Romance
Bret Harte
Venus flamed a lambent disk of pale saffron, low over the horizon.
The Octopus
Frank Norris
This time he might return, immaculate, from the path of that "lambent flamelet."
Browning's Heroines
Ethel Colburn Mayne
Their eyes are luminous and lambent, but it is a melancholy light.
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. XXIV, May 1852, Vol. IV
Various

British Dictionary definitions for lambent

lambent

adjective

(esp of a flame) flickering softly over a surface

glowing with soft radiance

(of wit or humour) light or brilliant

Derived Formslambency, nounlambently, adverb

Word Origin for lambent

C17: from the present participle of Latin lambere to lick

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 lambent

adj.

1640s, from figurative use of Latin lambentem (nominative lambens), present participle of lambere "to lick," from PIE root *lab-, indicative of smacking lips or licking (cf. Greek laptein "to sip, lick," Old English lapian "to lick, lap up, suck;" see lap (v.1)).