luminosity

American  

[loo-muh-nos-i-tee] / ˌlu məˈnɒs ɪ ti /

noun

PLURAL

luminosities

1. luminance.

2. the quality of being intellectually brilliant, enlightened, inspired, etc..

   The luminosity of his poetry is unequaled.

3. something luminous.

4. Astronomy.  the brightness of a star in comparison with that of the sun: the luminosity of Sirius expressed as 23 indicates an intrinsic brightness 23 times as great as that of the sun.

5. Also called luminosity factor.  Optics.  the brightness of a light source of a certain wavelength as it appears to the eye, measured as the ratio of luminous flux to radiant flux at that wavelength.

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luminosity British  

/ ˌluːmɪˈnɒsɪtɪ /

noun

1. the condition of being luminous

2. something that is luminous

3. astronomy a measure of the radiant power emitted by a star

4. Former name: brightness.  physics the attribute of an object or colour enabling the extent to which an object emits light to be observed See also colour

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Other Word Forms

• nonluminosity noun
• self-luminosity noun

Etymology

Origin of luminosity

1625–35; < Latin lūminōs ( us ) luminous + -ity

Example Sentences

She settles for a simple, repeated refrain of “it’s euphoric,” giving that last word a prismatic luminosity.

From New York Times

He delicately brushed extremely thin layers of paint over neutral gray or sandy grounds, achieving a level of shimmering luminosity that no other painter could match.

From Washington Post

Seurat’s atmospheric drawings of people and places using hard, waxy Conté crayon coax luminosity from smoky darkness.

From Los Angeles Times

It should shock no one that Andrew falls for Domino — who is, after all, played by Johnson, an actress whose natural luminosity is equaled by the impression that she’s holding back something crucial and ineffable.

From Washington Post

Both phenomena can easily surpass 100 billion times the sun’s luminosity.

From Scientific American