brightness
Appearance
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]- brightnesse (obsolete)
Etymology
[edit]From Middle English bryghtnes, brightnesse, from Old English beorhtnes (“brightness, splendor”), from Proto-West Germanic *berhtnassī, equivalent to bright + -ness. Cognate with Old High German berahtnessī, berahtnessi (“brightness”).
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]brightness (usually uncountable, plural brightnesses)
- The quality of being bright.
- 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
- Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held, one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividly beneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen collars, and red neckbands.
- The perceived luminance of an object.
- (idiomatic, figurative) Intelligence, cleverness.
Synonyms
[edit]- See also Thesaurus:intelligence
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]the quality of being bright
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perception elicited by the luminance of an object
intelligence, cleverness
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms suffixed with -ness
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/aɪtnəs
- Rhymes:English/aɪtnəs/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- English idioms
- en:Light