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luminaries

noun

plural of luminary
1
as in stars
a ball-shaped gaseous celestial body that shines by its own light awed by the vast number of luminaries in the night sky

Synonyms & Similar Words

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2
as in celebrities
a person who is widely known and usually much talked about luminaries from the worlds of sports, entertainment, and politics were at the gala

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of luminaries That event also included many tech luminaries, such as Tim Cook, formerly Apple’s CEO, and Musk. — Will Weissert, Chicago Tribune, 25 Sep. 2026 Upstairs at the Van Dyke, as it was known, drew jazz luminaries like Freddy Cole (Natalie’s uncle), Toots Thielemans, Randy Brecker and Branford Marsalis. — Howard Cohen, Miami Herald, 18 Sep. 2026 With Walker and Gibson among this motoring segment’s luminaries, that’s already a given. — Viju Mathew, Robb Report, 16 Sep. 2026 Witchy and worldly, with a tendency to name-drop the luminaries she’s encountered on her travels, the grande dame is Sybylla’s first example of a woman who chose her own way and has been rewarded for it. — Inkoo Kang, New Yorker, 10 Sep. 2026 Burning Man, the week-long festival that takes place in the middle of the Nevada desert and draws many luminaries from the tech industry, prides itself on building community. — Victor Tangermann, Futurism, 9 Sep. 2026 Once Upon a Time in Harlem In 1972, documentarian William Greaves brought together the surviving luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance for a shindig at Duke Ellington’s house. — A.a. Dowd, Vulture, 8 Sep. 2026 Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jodie Foster, screenwriters Paul Schrader and Nicholas Pileggi, Spike Lee, and Daniel Day-Lewis (Miller’s husband) are among the luminaries who appear in the series. — Matthew Carey, Deadline, 5 Sep. 2026 Over the years, the convention center arena has hosted a who’s who of music luminaries, the kind of acts people tell their kids and grandkids about years after seeing them. — Matthew Adams, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 3 Sep. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for luminaries
  1. stars
  2. celebrities
  3. galaxies
  4. personalities
  5. suns
  6. figures
  7. clusters
  8. dignitaries
Noun
  • Round 1, Part 2 of Fat Bear Week shines a light on the biggest (literally) stars of Katmai National Park and Preserve and the also the next generation.
    — Popular Science Team, Popular Science, 25 Sep. 2026
  • La Roja – looking to extend its record-breaking 38-match unbeaten run in competitive fixtures – called up stars Lamine Yamal and Ferran Torres but will be without full-back Pedro Porro through injury.
    — Patrick Sung Cuadrado, CNN Money, 24 Sep. 2026
Definition of stars
Noun
  • The crowds outside a major fashion show often start to form a few hours in advance, with expectant fans hoping to spot their favorite celebrities.
    — José Criales-Unzueta, Vanity Fair, 28 Sep. 2026
  • Browsing Twitch live streams on a Sunday afternoon this past summer might include seeing e-gamers setting a world-record speed run or online celebrities chatting with fans.
    — Camila Pedrosa, Sacbee.com, 28 Sep. 2026
Definition of celebrities
Noun
  • The team of researchers studied galaxies with active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at their hearts.
    — Robert Lea, Space.com, 21 Sep. 2026
  • Others are top-of-the-line machines, pointed at distant galaxies millions of light-years away.
    — Sean Macaday, Sacbee.com, 19 Sep. 2026
Definition of galaxies
Noun
  • The first episode will feature network personalities Rachel Campos-Duffy, Harris Faulkner and Kat Timpf, new contributor Melissa DeRosa and former ESPN host Samantha Ponder.
    — Ted Johnson, Deadline, 28 Sep. 2026
  • Last September, media personalities Nessa and Kevan Kenney helmed red carpet coverage at the VMAs.
    — Stacia Datskovska, Footwear News, 27 Sep. 2026
Definition of personalities
Noun
  • And this image has no shortage of suns, with twinkling stars speckling the entire cosmic landscape, diffraction spikes and all.
    — Chelsea Gohd, Space.com, 16 Sep. 2026
  • The prevalence of LRDs in the early universe would align with the emergence of supermassive black holes, each weighing millions to billions of suns apiece, which astronomers spy at the hearts of large galaxies.
    — Lee Billings, Scientific American, 12 Aug. 2026
Definition of suns
Noun
  • And members of these new churches were mostly not the black-dressed, hypocritical, sour-faced, monocultural figures favored by popular narrative, but often included colorful figures who were sometimes surprisingly modern in their desires.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 28 Sep. 2026
  • Prominent appointments have gone to figures such as Jason Reding Quiñones, a prosecutor who reportedly received low scores on performance evaluations while working at the Southern District of Florida.
    — Eyal Press, New Yorker, 28 Sep. 2026
Definition of figures
Noun
  • With its octagonal clusters of flats arranged around a central water tower that looks like a fist raised against the sky, the neighborhood doesn’t have much spirit of community.
    — Jessica Kiang, Variety, 26 Sep. 2026
  • Up next is a course in laser communication, a core capability that the Project Suncatcher satellites — which will operate in clusters of dozens of spacecraft — will need to possess.
    — Mike Wall, Space.com, 25 Sep. 2026
Definition of clusters
Noun
  • One of them hit a railway line shortly after a train carrying European dignitaries had passed through.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 18 Sep. 2026
  • On Sunday, a Russian drone struck a passenger train carrying foreign dignitaries on a visit to Ukraine, including senior European officials and former CIA Director David Petraeus, forcing them to evacuate near the Polish border.
    — Aidan Stretch, CBS News, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of dignitaries

Browse Nearby Words

luminance
luminaries
luminary
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Luminaries.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/luminaries. Accessed 30 Sep. 2026.

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