incandescent
/ˌɪn.kænˈdɛs.ənt/
incandescent means emitting light as a result of being heated. It carries an Arena rating of 2009, earned across 23 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, incandescent ranks #506 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say, #757 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #895 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words, #947 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words.
incandescent is pronounced /ˌɪn.kænˈdɛs.ənt/.
Why “incandescent” is a great word
Emitting light as a direct result of being heated, and by extension, expressing a passion so white-hot it seems to radiate. It derives from the Latin incandescens, present participle of incandescere, meaning 'to glow, become hot', from in- (an intensifying prefix) + candescere ('to become white or glow'), from candere ('to shine, be white'). First attested in English circa 1794, borrowed from French incandescent. Unlike 'luminous' (which can denote a cool, reflected, or biological glow) or 'ardent' (which implies zealous feeling but not its luminous expression), incandescent binds the physical and the emotional in a single thermal filament. It is the tungsten filament screaming white in a vacuum-sealed bulb, the molten iron pooling at a forge’s heart, and the human face in the instant before tears—light not borrowed but wrested from matter itself, the visible evidence of something being consumed to make it.
Etymology
Borrowed from French incandescent, from Latin incandescens, from incandesco (“be heated, glow”), from in- (intensifying prefix) + candesco (“become white”), from candidus (“white”).
adj
- Emitting light as a result of being heated.e.g.“We will all go together when we go / All suffused with an incandescent glow” — 1959, Tom Lehrer, “We Will All Go Together When We Go”:
- Shining very brightly.
- Showing intense emotion, as of a performance, etc.e.g.“The incandescent performance enraptured the audience.”
- Extremely angry; furious.e.g.“She is incandescent with rage because someone stole her wallet.”
noun
- An incandescent lamp or bulb.e.g.“Compact fluorescents are typically rated at 7,500 to 10,000 hours, and incandescents at about 1,500 hours.” — 2007 March 1, Matthew L. Wald, “Room to Improve”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 03 Jun 2017:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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