incandesce

[ in-kuhn-des ]

verb (used with or without object)

, in·can·desced, in·can·desc·ing.

1. to glow or cause to glow with heat.

incandesce

/ ˌɪnkænˈdɛs /

verb

1. intr to exhibit incandescence

Word History and Origins

Origin of incandesce¹

First recorded in 1870–75; back formation from incandescent

Example Sentences

People had been making wires incandesce since 1761, and plenty of other inventors had demonstrated and even patented various versions of incandescent lights by 1878, when Edison turned his attention to the problem of illumination.

From The New Yorker

It’s a poignant throwaway line that nonetheless speaks to Petzold’s own doomy romanticism, even if his tightly constructed, rigorously unsentimental movies don’t melt so much as they slowly, brilliantly incandesce.

From Los Angeles Times

We were in the courtyard of the Morris Burner Hostel in Reno, Nevada, watching a live feed of a wooden man incandescing 120 miles away.

From The Guardian

The molecules incandesce, and burn like true stars with a brilliancy that is often magnificent.

From Project Gutenberg

These incandescing orbs are so many points of interrogation suspended above our heads in the inaccessible depths of space....

From Project Gutenberg