radiance

American  

[ray-dee-uhns] / ˈreɪ di əns /

noun

• radiances
  plural

1. radiant brightness or light.

   the radiance of the tropical sun.

   Synonyms:

   brilliance, splendor, resplendence

2. warm, cheerful brightness.

   the radiance of her expression.

3. Rare. radiation.

---

radiance British  

/ ˈreɪdɪəns /

noun

1. the quality or state of being radiant

2. Le. a measure of the amount of electromagnetic radiation leaving or arriving at a point on a surface. It is the radiant intensity in a given direction of a small element of surface area divided by the orthogonal projection of this area onto a plane at right angles to the direction

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonradiance
  noun
• subradiance
  noun
• superradiance
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• radiances
  plural

Etymology

Origin of radiance

First recorded in 1595–1605; radi(ant) + -ance

Compare meaning

How does radiance compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• irradiance vs. radiance

Explanation

Radiance is a type of glowing: either from a light source like the sun or a healthy, beaming person. The sun radiates lights, and bright objects that give off light rays have a quality called radiance. The sun's radiance can be felt the strongest in the afternoon. We use lights for their radiance: they brighten rooms and streets. Also, if someone is happy and healthy, we can talk about their radiance. A sign of radiance in a person is a wide smile, and pregnant women are often said to have a glow or radiance because they’re full of life.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

radiance radiances

All this gives the affair a narcoleptic quality, where flashes of radiance are quickly overwhelmed by everything else as we’re put back into our stupor.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 6, 2026

The growing closeness between Olive, played with quiet radiance by Ms. Rogers, and William, whom Mr. McHale renders with galumphing gawkiness, forms another affecting strand of the score.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 24, 2025

And in their first feature lead role, the queer, L.A.-born actor Tonatiuh embodies all of Molina’s contradictions — his bluster, his pain, his radiance — to heart-wrenching effect.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2025

Another critic said he had "a fluid physical grace and an inner radiance that sometimes makes it seem as if he's lit from within".

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2025

Big sisters, grandfathers, adorable toddlers who might want to stand near the radiance of the Queen Bride—gone.

From "What the Night Sings" by Vesper Stamper

I saw the radiances of Jupiter and Saturn, spinning, with incredible swiftness, in huge orbits.

From The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson

Colors and radiances surrounded him and bathed him and pervaded him. 

From Martin Eden by Jack London

Even the shade is but a flight Toward flickering radiances, that slip From space to space; and now the light Sleeps, with calmed rays, upon the lip Of lilac-blossoms golden-white.

From Poems of Emile Verhaeren by Emile Verhaeren

He who shall count the stars of heaven, shall enumerate the radiances of love.

From Hints for Lovers by T. Arnold (Theodore Arnold) Haultain

Rocket radiances came from its rotating circumference; it came sailing directly at me, so swiftly that my own velocity was futile.

From Wandl the Invader by Ray Cummings

Related Words

• warmth