Lucifer
Americannoun
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a proud, rebellious archangel, identified with Satan, who fell from heaven.
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the planet Venus when appearing as the morning star.
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(lowercase) friction match.
noun
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the leader of the rebellion of the angels: usually identified with Satan
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the planet Venus when it rises as the morning star
noun
Etymology
Origin of Lucifer
before 1000; Middle English, Old English < Latin: morning star, literally, light-bringing, equivalent to lūci- (stem of lūx ) light + -fer -fer
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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.
No wonder Dante, the Florence-born author of the “Divine Comedy,” consigned counterfeiters to the eighth circle of hell, “just one rung higher than Lucifer in the ninth.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 12, 2025
Watching Gwendoline Christie play Lucifer Morningstar and Vivienne Acheampong embody The Dreaming’s librarian, Lucienne, ended much of the relatively limited fuss over those choices.
From Salon • Jul. 3, 2025
Lucifer seemed likely to trounce broody hero Dream initially — until he asked, “What kills hope?”
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 22, 2023
It finally premiered on Netflix in August 2022 and featured some well known names including Charles Dance, Stephen Fry, Jenna Coleman and Gwendoline Christie as Lucifer.
From BBC • Jun. 29, 2023
Mr. Stonecrop held the paper out with both hands, mumbled a moment until he found the right place, and then began to sputter as though great Lucifer himself had provoked him.
From "Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy" by Gary D. Schmidt
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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.