lucent
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of lucent
First recorded in 1490–1500; from Latin lūcent- (stem of lūcēns ), present participle of lūcēre “to shine”; see lucid, -ent
Explanation
Lucent things shine or glow with light. On a clear night, the full moon is lucent in the sky. The literary word lucent essentially means "luminous" or "radiant," glowing with a soft, bright light. You're most likely to encounter it in a poem or novel, describing the stars or white flowers in the dusk, or someone' s beautiful pale face, but it sometimes has a "clear or lucid" meaning as well. It comes from the Latin lucentem, from lucere, "to shine."
Vocabulary lists containing lucent
The Pearl
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All Aglow: Light Lingo
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The Grapes of Wrath
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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.
When Benigni cracked that the pope was "lucent ... emanating light", the pope responded, "Don't exaggerate!"
From Reuters • Dec. 7, 2022
Wiener sloshed knee-high through the shore’s lucent water, and gently picked up the prickly fish with both hands.
From Seattle Times • May 4, 2022
But none of them brought the house to its feet in the midst of every performance like the vocally mighty and emotionally lucent Cynthia Erivo did, with The Color Purple ballad, I’m Here.
From The Guardian • Jun. 9, 2016
The guttural throb of the bass guitar resets my heartbeat, but nothing can overpower the frenetic pattern of fingers on lucent screens.
From Forbes • Mar. 10, 2015
All of these things Kino saw in the lucent pearl and he said, “We will have new clothes.”
From "The Pearl" by John Steinbeck
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.
