superluminal

[ soo-per-loo-muh-nl ]

adjective

, Astronomy.

1. appearing to travel faster than the speed of light.

superluminal

/ ˌsuːpəˈluːmɪnəl /

adjective

1. physics of or relating to a speed or velocity exceeding the speed of light

Word History and Origins

Origin of superluminal¹

First recorded in 1955–60; super- + Latin lūmin-, stem of lūmen “light, rays of light, radiance” + -al ¹

Example Sentences

Importantly, giving it up doesn’t cause a theory to fall afoul of Einstein’s theories of relativity, much like physicists have argued that Bell nonlocality doesn’t require superluminal or nonlocal causal influences but merely nonseparable states.

From Scientific American

“That said, this is a very nice result that shows the same ‘superluminal’ velocities we saw in the ‘blowtorch of the gods,’” Dr. Doeleman said in an email, referring to another recent report of a black hole erupting.

From New York Times

The southern jet, coming toward us, appeared to be advancing across the sky at superluminal speed, more than one and a half times the speed of light — an impossible velocity, according to relativity, which established the speed of light as the cosmic speed limit.

From New York Times

The prohibition on sending a superluminal signal is ordinarily referred to as locality.

From Scientific American

A similar need for superluminal signaling would apparently be needed in scenarios where a black hole is prevented from forming in the first place.

From Scientific American