brightness
Americannoun
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the quality of being bright.
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Optics. the luminance of a body, apart from its hue or saturation, that an observer uses to determine the comparative luminance of another body. Pure white has the maximum brightness, and pure black the minimum brightness.
noun
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the condition of being bright
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physics a former name for luminosity
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psychol the experienced intensity of light
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of brightness
before 950; Middle English brihtnes, Old English beorhtnes. See bright, -ness
Vocabulary lists containing brightness
Space Science (Astronomy) - Introductory
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Physics - Introductory
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Physics - Middle School
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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.
See Examples For:
Fessler said Shields moved through the world with brightness and spontaneity in a constant journey of self-development.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
Cold noodles need a dressing with enough substance to coat every curve and ridge, but enough brightness to keep the bowl from feeling stodgy after a few hours in the fridge.
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026
Instead, it seemed to wake the herbs up, sharpening their edges and giving the whole thing just enough brightness to keep the carbs from feeling sleepy.
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2026
By comparing that intrinsic brightness with how bright the stars appear from Earth, researchers can accurately calculate their distance.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 5, 2026
I’ve seen flashes of this August before—this brightness, this conviviality, this generosity of spirit—but I know what he’s capable of, and I won’t forget it.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
Using data from the Swift Ultra-Violet/Optical Telescope, the researchers collected brightnesses for millions of stars in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, two of the closest galaxies to Earth.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 15, 2023
This, they said, was consistent with quasars of different "brightnesses," meaning with varying strength to their radio emissions.
From Salon ● Apr. 30, 2023
Besides dramatically boosting the total number of known FRB events, the observations also revealed a very wide range of brightnesses among the recorded events, offering new clues about the astrophysical nature of their mysterious source.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 13, 2021
I had become fond of these orange poppies and their disintegration forces me to face inevitable endings and renunciations of all seasons, of all the sunlit fields I ever saw, of all brightnesses, persons, myself.
From New York Times ● Jun. 11, 2017
I look at the moons one more time, the smaller one chasing the larger one, two brightnesses up there, still light enough to cast shadows, ignorant of the troubles of men.
From "The Knife of Never Letting Go" by Patrick Ness
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.
