luminiferous

[ loo-muh-nif-er-uhs ]

adjective

1. producing light:

   the luminiferous properties of a gas.

Other Words From

• unlu·mi·nifer·ous adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of luminiferous¹

1795–1805; < Latin lūmin- ( lumen ) + -i- + -ferous

Example Sentences

Until the experiment was performed in 1887, scientists believed that light waves propagate through a medium that scientists called the luminiferous aether.

From Scientific American

Plotting these luminiferous points on a map, the team was stunned to discover a collection of pulsing magmatic structures — the beating volcanic heart of southern Hawaii.

From Washington Post

“If Theodore Roosevelt’s turbulent life can be described as cyclonic,” she wrote, “his wife was the still center of the storm. Reserved to the point of aloofness, and given to the sternest self-discipline, Edith was a lifelong enigma even to members of her family. Yet no one denied her power and influence. She was ‘a sort of feminine luminiferous ether, pervading everything and everybody.’

From Washington Post

For example, in 1887, an optical interferometer — a sensor based on wave interference — was used to disprove the existence of luminiferous aether, a universal medium through which light waves were thought to propagate1.

From Nature

Not incidentally, it also solved the problem of the luminiferous ether by making it clear that it didn’t exist.

From Literature