bright

1 giving off or reflecting much light in the desert the sun was so bright that it hurt my eyes the moon is bright tonight Synonyms beaming, bedazzling, brilliant, candescent, clear, dazzling, effulgent, fulgent, glowing, incandescent, lambent, lucent, lucid, luminous, lustrous, radiant, refulgent, sheeny, shining, shiny, splendid Related Words ablaze, ardent, blazing, burning, combusting, fiery, flaming, red-hot; agleam, aglitter, blinding, coruscant, flaring, flashing, flickering, gemmy, glancing, glaring, gleaming, glimmering, glinting, glistening, glistering, glittering, scintillant, scintillating, shimmering, shimmery, sparkling, sunny, twinkling, winking; burnished, polished, shined; superbright, ultrabright Near Antonyms blackened, dark, darkened, darkish, darkling, darksome, dimmed, dusky, gloomy, lightless, murky, obscure, obscured, pitch-black, pitch-dark, somber (or sombre), sunless, tenebrous, unlit; cloudy, shadowlike, shadowy, shady; gray (also grey), leaden, pale, palish Antonyms dim, dull, lackluster, unbright, unbrilliant

2 filled with much light the display windows of department stores are especially bright at Christmastime Synonyms ablaze, alight, brightened, illuminated, illumined, light, lightsome, lit (or lighted) Related Words floodlit (also floodlighted), highlighted, spotlighted (or spotlit); ignited, kindled; moonlit, shiny, sunlit, sunny, sunshiny Near Antonyms gloomy, somber (or sombre), sunless; cloudy, murky, obscured, shadowlike, shadowy; gray (also grey), leaden, pale; lightproof Antonyms blackened, dark, darkened, darkish, darkling, dimmed, dusk, dusky, lightless, pitch-black, pitch-dark, tenebrous, unlit

3 having or showing a good mood or disposition always walks into work with a bright smile on his face Synonyms blithe, blithesome, cheerful, buoyant, canty [British dialect], cheery, chipper, eupeptic, gay, gladsome, lightsome, sunny, upbeat, winsomeRelated Words hopeful, optimistic, rosy, sanguine; animated, chirpy, jaunty, lilting, lively, perky, sprightful, sprightly, vivacious; carefree, careless, cavalier, devil-may-care, easygoing, happy-go-lucky, insouciant, lighthearted, unconcerned; boon, gleeful, jocund, jolly, jovial, merry, mirthful; blissful, delighted, glad, gratified, happy, joyful, joyous, pleased, satisfied, tickled; beaming, grinning, laughing, smilingNear Antonyms joyless, sad, unhappy, unsatisfied; dull, lethargic, listless, sluggish, torpid; blue, brokenhearted, crestfallen, dejected, depressed, despondent, disconsolate, disheartened, down, downcast, downhearted, droopy, forlorn, hangdog, heavyhearted, inconsolable, low, low-spirited, melancholy, mirthless, sorrowfulAntonyms dour, gloomy, glum, morose, saturnine, sulky, sullen

4 having or showing quickness of mind a company that is always looking for bright, ambitious college graduates Synonyms alert, brainy, intelligent, brilliant, clever, exceptional, fast, hyperintelligent, keen, nimble, quick, quick-witted, sharp, sharp-witted, smart, supersmart, ultrasmartRelated Words apt, ingenious, resourceful; acute, astute, discerning, heady, insightful, knowing, perceptive, percipient, perspicacious, sagacious, sapient, savvy, wise; cerebral, erudite, genial, highbrow, knowledgeable, learned, literate, scholarly, well-read; educated, informed, schooled, skilled, trained; creative, inventive, judicious, prudent, sage, sane, sapient, sensible, sound, wise; crafty, cunning, foxy, shrewd, wily; logical, rational, reasonableNear Antonyms feebleminded, simpleminded; boobish, foolish, half-baked, idiotic (also idiotical), imbecile (or imbecilic), moronic, silly; ignorant, illiterate, lowbrow, nonintellectual, unacademic, uneducated, uninformed, unintellectual, untaught, unthinking; absurd, asinine, balmy, cockeyed, crackpot, crazy, cuckoo, daffy, daft, dippy, dotty, featherheaded, fool, half-baked, harebrained, insane, kooky (also kookie), loony (also looney), lunatic, mad, nonsensical, nutty, preposterous, sappy, screwball, tomfool, unwise, wacky (also whacky), zanyAntonyms airheaded, birdbrained, boneheaded, brain-dead, brainless, bubbleheaded, chuckleheaded, dense, dim, dim-witted, doltish, dopey (also dopy), dorky [slang], dull, dumb, dunderheaded, empty-headed, fatuous, gormless [chiefly British], half-witted, knuckleheaded, lamebrain (or lamebrained), lunkheaded, mindless, obtuse, opaque, pinheaded, senseless, simple, slow, slow-witted, soft, softheaded, stupid, thick, thickheaded, thick-witted, unbrilliant, unintelligent, unsmart, vacuous, weak-minded, witless

5 having qualities which inspire hope predicted a bright future for the young math whiz Synonyms auspicious, hopeful, encouraging, fair, golden, heartening, likely, optimistic, promising, propitious, roseate, rose-colored, rosy, upbeatRelated Words cheering, comforting, reassuring, soothing; assured, confident, decisive, doubtless, positive, sure, unhesitating; beamish, bullish, eupeptic; favorable, goodNear Antonyms cheerless, comfortless; doubtful, dubious, uncertain; bearish, grim, negative, unfavorable; funereal, glum, gray (also grey), miserable, wretchedAntonyms bleak, dark, depressing, desperate, discouraging, disheartening, dismal, downbeat, dreary, gloomy, hopeless, inauspicious, pessimistic, unencouraging, unlikely, unpromising, unpropitious

6 pointing toward a happy outcome all the signs are bright right now for an economic boom Synonyms auspicious, favorable, encouraging, golden, heartening, hopeful, promising, propitiousRelated Words fortunate, fortuitous, happy, lucky, providential; advantageous, beneficial, profitable, prosperous, salutaryNear Antonyms unfortunate, unhappy, unlucky; calamitous, catastrophic, disastrous, fatal, ruinous; baleful, dark, dire, direful, doomy, foreboding, gloomy, ill, ill-boding, menacing, minatory, ominous, portentous, sinister, threateningAntonyms dim, discouraging, disheartening, futureless, hopeless, inauspicious, unfavorable, unpromising, unpropitious

7 serving to lift one's spirits a bright and beautiful morning to begin planting our garden Synonyms cheerful, cheering, cheery, gay, gladRelated Words gladdening, heartening, heartwarming; gleaming, radiant, sparklingNear Antonyms discouraging, disheartening; colorless, drab, dull, lackluster, lusterless; black, desolate, dispiritingAntonyms bleak, cheerless, dark, depressing, dismal, dreary, gloomy, gray (also grey)

8 standing above others in rank, importance, or achievement a bright new star on the operatic scene Synonyms astral, eminent, distinguished, illustrious, luminous, noble, notable, noteworthy, outstanding, preeminent, prestigious, redoubtable, signal, star, superiorRelated Words celebrated, exalted, famed, famous, glorious, honored, renowned, reputable; infamous, notorious; dominant, paramount, predominantNear Antonyms insignificant, minor, unimportant; average, inferior, mediocre; obscure, uncelebrated, unsung