Word of the Day

: December 22, 2019

fulgent

adjective FULL-jint

What It Means

: dazzlingly bright : radiant

fulgent in Context

"Reigning as queen of the ball was Miss Skylar Nicole Ballard…. Her majesty's regal ensemble included a gown of white silver lace, tulle and regency organza…. Completing the raiment were … the fulgent crown and scepter." — The Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate (nola.com), 10 Feb. 2019

"Goldfinches are among songbirds, like warblers, that undergo two molts a year: a complete feather molt in fall that covers them in lackluster plumage and a molt of head and body feathers excluding wings and tail in spring that adorns males in fulgent golden yellow." — Gary Clark, The Houston Chronicle, 12 Jan. 2018

Did You Know?

"The weary Sun betook himself to rest; — / Then issued Vesper from the fulgent west." That's how the appearance of the evening star in the glowing western sky at sunset looked to 19th-century poet William Wordsworth. Fulgent was a particularly apt choice to describe the radiant light of the sky at sunset. The word derives from the Latin verb fulgēre, meaning "to shine," a root which is itself akin to the Latin flagrare, meaning "to burn." English speakers have been using fulgent to depict resplendence since at least the 15th century.