luminosity

[ loo-muh-nos-i-tee ]
See synonyms for luminosity on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural lu·mi·nos·i·ties.
  1. the quality of being intellectually brilliant, enlightened, inspired, etc.: The luminosity of his poetry is unequaled.

  1. something luminous.

  2. Astronomy. the brightness of a star in comparison with that of the sun: the luminosity of Sirius expressed as 23 indicates an intrinsic brightness 23 times as great as that of the sun.

  3. Also called luminosity factor. Optics. the brightness of a light source of a certain wavelength as it appears to the eye, measured as the ratio of luminous flux to radiant flux at that wavelength.

Origin of luminosity

1
1625–35; <Latin lūminōs(us) luminous + -ity

Other words from luminosity

  • non·lu·mi·nos·i·ty, noun
  • self-lu·mi·nos·i·ty, noun

Words Nearby luminosity

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use luminosity in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for luminosity

luminosity

/ (ˌluːmɪˈnɒsɪtɪ) /


nounplural -ties
  1. the condition of being luminous

  2. something that is luminous

  1. astronomy a measure of the radiant power emitted by a star

  2. physics the attribute of an object or colour enabling the extent to which an object emits light to be observed: Former name: brightness See also colour

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012