incandescent

Definition

Emitting light as a result of being heated.

Etymology

Borrowed from French incandescent, from Latin incandescens, from incandesco (“be heated, glow”), from in- (intensifying prefix) + candesco (“become white”), from candidus (“white”).

Example Sentences

• "We will all go together when we go / All suffused with an incandescent glow"
• "Rather than burning out as incandescent bulbs do, L.E.D.’s light output dims over tens of thousands of hours. L.E.D.’s are also more resistant to vibration than incandescents or screw-in fluorescent bulbs, and do not flicker or hum."
• "Those multitoned buttes and mesas [of the Grand Canyon], and that incandescent sequence of colorful bands that make one of the natural wonders of the world so grand, can also be found over 100 million miles away [on Mars]."