Apedia

Incandescent Light Lit Heat B Incandescence December Adjective

Word incandescent
Date December 5, 2020
Type adjective
Syllables in-kun-DESS-unt
Etymology Incandescent first lit up the English language toward the end of the 18th century, at a time when scientific experiments involving heat and light were being conducted on an increasingly frequent basis. An object that glowed at a high temperature (such as a piece of coal) was incandescent. By the mid-1800s, the incandescent lamp—aka the lightbulb—had been invented; it contains a filament which gives off light when heated by an electric current. Incandescent is the modern offspring of a much older parent, the Latin verb candēre, meaning "to glow." Centuries earlier, the word for another source of light, candle, was also derived from candēre.
Examples The attic was lit by a single incandescent bulb, but that was all the light we needed to read the labels on the storage boxes.

"Her husband, Patrick Loungway, a cinematographer, suggested that she use an anamorphic lens to replicate the look of a CinemaScope film. The wide lens, in conjunction with theatrical lighting that varies from golden glow to incandescent glare, provides the sense of Hollywood transport and reverie she sought." — Arthur Lubow, The New York Times, 26 Oct. 2020
Definition 1 a : white, glowing, or luminous with intense heat
b : strikingly bright, radiant, or clear
c : marked by brilliance especially of expression
d : characterized by glowing zeal : ardent
2 a : of, relating to, or being light produced by incandescence
b : producing light by incandescence

Tags: wordoftheday::adjective

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