noctilucent
(of high-altitude clouds) visible during the short night of the summer.
Origin of noctilucent
1Other words from noctilucent
- noc·ti·lu·cence, noun
Words Nearby noctilucent
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use noctilucent in a sentence
Strahan also said the excess water vapor could enhance the formation of special noctilucent clouds, which appear as shimmering, ghostlike wisps in the night sky.
Tonga volcano blasted unprecedented amount of water into atmosphere | Kasha Patel | August 5, 2022 | Washington PostAt these altitudes, then, water vapor itself can readily cool the air enough to create noctilucent clouds.
To understand how ‘night-shining’ clouds form, scientists made one themselves | Maria Temming | March 5, 2021 | Science News
British Dictionary definitions for noctilucent
/ (ˌnɒktɪˈluːsənt) /
shining at night, usu. of very thin high altitude clouds observable in the summer twilight sky
Derived forms of noctilucent
- noctilucence, noun
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
Scientific definitions for noctilucent
[ nŏk′tə-lōō′sənt ]
Luminous at night. The term is used especially to describe certain high atmospheric cloud formations visible during summer nights at high latitudes.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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