resplendent
/ɹɪˈsplɛn.dənt/
resplendent means shining brilliantly; gleaming; radiant. It carries an Arena rating of 1972, earned across 36 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, resplendent ranks #947 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words, #1,955 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #2,284 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #3,171 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words.
resplendent is pronounced /ɹɪˈsplɛn.dənt/.
Why “resplendent” is a great word
Shining with a brilliant, dazzling radiance. From Latin resplendēre ("to shine back, glitter"), from re- ("back, again") + splendēre ("to shine"). Unlike "splendid," which emphasizes magnificent grandeur, or "lustrous," which describes a soft, gentle sheen, resplendent implies a pure, emitted light. It is the sun striking a gilded dome at noon, the iridescent plunge of a kingfisher into a still pool, the final blaze of color in a dying sunset—a world briefly answering back to the light that made it.
Etymology
From the obsolete sense of the English verb splendish (“to shine”), from Latin splendere (“to shine”), or from resplend + -ent, from Latin resplendere (“to shine back, glitter”).
adj
- Shining brilliantly; gleaming; radiant.e.g.“The resplendent sun rose over the horizon.”
- Shiny and colorful, and thus pleasing to the eye; splendid in appearance.e.g.“The peacock displayed its resplendent plumage.”
- Magnificent; glorious; splendid; marked by extraordinary excellence or beauty.e.g.“The queen appeared in resplendent majesty.”
- Exhibiting the property of resplendency in Peano arithmetic.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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