radiant means radiating light and/or heat.
radiant is pronounced /ˈɹeɪ.di.ənt/.
Why “radiant” is a great word
Emitting rays of light or heat, or beaming with palpable joy, health, or beauty. From Middle English radyant, from Latin radiāns, radiantis, the present participle of radiāre, 'to emit rays or beams.' Unlike 'luminous' (which suggests a gentle, steady glow) or 'dazzling' (which overwhelms with sharp, blinding intensity), radiant carries the warmth of an inner fire made visible—sunlight spilling through stained glass, a newborn’s cheek flushed with breath and blood, the unguarded smile of someone utterly alight with being. It is light not merely seen, but felt: a testament to that which cannot help but overflow its own boundaries.
Etymology
From Middle English radyant, from Latin radiāns, radiantis, present participle of radiāre (“to emit rays or beams”).
adj
- Radiating light and/or heat.“the radiant sun”
- Emitted as radiation.
- Beaming with vivacity and happiness.“a radiant face”
- Strikingly beautiful.“And yet she was ensnaringly beautiful, despite her pride and self-consciousness; radiant and certain of conquest she stood before the man who alone seemed to have neither eye nor ear for charms that had never elsewhere played her false.”
- Emitting or proceeding as if from a center.
- Giving off rays.“the sun radiant”
- Having a ray-like appearance, like the large marginal flowers of certain umbelliferous plants; said also of the cluster which has such marginal flowers.
noun
- A point source from which radiation is emitted.
- The apparent origin, in the night sky, of a meteor shower.
- A straight line proceeding from a given point, or fixed pole, about which it is conceived to revolve.
Words closest in meaning
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