brightness

noun

bright·ness | \ ˈbrīt-nəs

Definition of brightness

1a : the quality or state of being bright also : an instance of such a quality or state

b : luminance

2 : the attribute of light-source colors by which emitted light is ordered continuously from light to dark in correlation with its intensity — compare hue sense 2c, lightness entry 1 sense 2, saturation sense 4

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Examples of brightness in a Sentence

the brightness of the sunshine made me squint after an afternoon spent in a darkened movie theater

Recent Examples on the Web

Their surface temperatures range between 20,000 and 50,000 degrees Celsius, and their brightness means that many of the stars seen in the night sky are, in fact, blue supergiants. — David Grossman, Popular Mechanics, "Astronomers Finally Able to See Beneath Surface of Mysterious Blue Supergiants," 7 May 2019 However, a second group of researchers has taken that same Hubble data, performed their own analysis on it, and couldn't find the tell-tale brightness dip that indicates the presence of an exomoon. — Avery Thompson, Popular Mechanics, "Maybe the First Discovered Exomoon Doesn't Exist After All," 30 Apr. 2019 Ultra Saber offers incredible uniform brightness with only a single light source. — Sam Machkovech, Ars Technica, "Hands-on with a $434 replica lightsaber: May the dork be with you," 25 Dec. 2018 To get the same brightness as an old-school 100 watt bulb, pick up a 1,600 lumen version. — Kathryn O’shea-evans, WSJ, "Goodbye, Showy Chandeliers. Hello, Low-Key Lighting That Transforms Rooms," 25 Jan. 2019 The ebony fingerboard has more brightness and snap than the rosewood used on most Fender electrics. — Henry Robertson, Popular Mechanics, "Fender's 'Acoustasonic' Is a True Acoustic-Electric Hybrid Guitar," 22 Jan. 2019 Screen brightness is a notable compromise, with the panels rated at 220 nits to 250 nits—not horrible, but not great. — Gordon Mah Ung, PCWorld, "Lenovo's latest IdeaPads offer Intel, AMD, and an Nvidia mystery," 24 Feb. 2019 According to the scientists, the flecks don’t turn yellow or lose their brightness over time. — Liz Stinson, Curbed, "Sleek new speaker features recyclable wood cabinet," 27 Dec. 2018 Also less than ideal is the brightness of the fingerprint ID graphic at the bottom of the screen. — Vlad Savov, The Verge, "OnePlus 6T review: revised formula, same results," 29 Oct. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'brightness.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

25 May 2019

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Time Traveler for brightness

The first known use of brightness was before the 12th century

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More Definitions for brightness

brightness

noun

bright·ness | \ ˈbrīt-nəs

Medical Definition of brightness

: the one of the three psychological dimensions of color perception by which visual stimuli are ordered continuously from light to dark and which is correlated with light intensity — compare hue, saturation sense 4a