luminous

comparative more luminous · superlative most luminous · alternative uncommon luminious

1. Emitting light; glowing brightly; shining.

   The bonfire in his heart made luminous the rose-tan in his cheek.

   1888–1891, Herman Melville, “[Billy Budd, Foretopman.] Chapter [HTTP://GUTENBERG.NET.AU/EBOOKS06/0608511H.HTML CHAPTER 11].”, in Billy Budd and Other Stories, London: John Lehmann, published 1951, →OCLC

   2 more examples

   The moon, which had been slowly ascending, now shone through an open space between the trees; and the rippling waters of the brook gave back her light in luminous vibrations.

   1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter IV, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 21

   When approaching the Laughead household, she claimed to have previously met Charles Laughead and to recently have experienced a mystical dream in which a mysterious, luminous man rescued her from a flood (Williams 1954).

   2025 November 4, Thomas Kelly, “Debunking “When Prophecy Fails””, in Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, volume 62, number 1, →DOI, →ISSN, page 3

   Synonyms: beamful, shining, radiant, aglow, alight, beamful, beamsome, beamy

2. Brightly illuminated.

   Synonyms: lighted, lit up, alight, illuminated, inlighted, lighted, lighty, lit

3. Clear; enlightening; easy to understand.

   a luminous explanation