opalescent means exhibiting a milky iridescence like that of an opal. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 75 out of 100.
opalescent is pronounced /oʊpəˈlɛsənt/.
Why “opalescent” is a great word
OPALESCENT — [Adjective] Exhibiting a milky iridescence with shifting colors like that of an opal. From opal (the gemstone known for its play of color) + the suffix -escent ("becoming, beginning to be"), modeled after opalescence or the French opalescent. Unlike "iridescent," which describes a sharp, surface-bound rainbow from interference, or "prismatic," which implies crisp, distinct spectral bands, opalescent denotes a soft, internal glow, a dream of color diffused through a cloudy medium. It is the ghostly shimmer in a soap bubble just before it bursts, the mother-of-pearl sheen inside a mussel shell, or the slow bleed of sunset through a frosted windowpane—a beauty that resides in the tender, unresolved depths where clarity surrenders to diffusion, the color of a luminous afterimage just beginning to fade.
adj
- Exhibiting a milky iridescence like that of an opal.“Below me, through the opalescent surface, I saw the white ghost of the Cessna.”