incandescent
Americanadjective
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(of light) produced by incandescence.
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glowing or white with heat.
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intensely bright; brilliant.
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brilliant; masterly; extraordinarily lucid.
an incandescent masterpiece; incandescent wit.
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aglow with ardor, purpose, etc..
the incandescent vitality of youth.
adjective
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emitting light as a result of being heated to a high temperature; red-hot or white-hot
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informal extremely angry; raging
Other Word Forms
- incandescently adverb
- nonincandescent adjective
- nonincandescently adverb
Etymology
Origin of incandescent
1785–95; < Latin incandēscent- (stem of incandēscēns ), present participle of incandēscere to glow. See in- 2, candescent
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It is the incandescent poems of his tortured and unsettled youth that still dazzle.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 20, 2026
Mark Joseph Stern: This was one of the most incandescent judicial opinions I think I have ever seen.
From Slate • Jan. 23, 2026
Overnight, AFP journalists saw Ukraine using tracer bullets and missile defence systems, and incandescent debris falling over large areas above the capital.
From Barron's • Nov. 14, 2025
The prime minister, I am told, is "incandescent" at how all of this has played out and is looking into how it all happened.
From BBC • Nov. 13, 2025
Edison’s famous “invention” of the incandescent light bulb on the night of October 21, 1879, improved on many other incandescent light bulbs patented by other inventors between 1841 and 1878.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
