Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Emitting or reflecting light readily or in large amounts; shining.
- adj. Comparatively high on the scale of brightness.
- adj. Full of light or illumination: a bright sunny day; a stage bright with spotlights.
- adj. Characterizing a dyestuff that produces a highly saturated color; brilliant.
- adj. Glorious; splendid: one of the bright stars of stage and screen; a bright moment in history.
- adj. Full of promise and hope; auspicious: had a bright future in publishing.
- adj. Happy; cheerful: bright faces.
- adj. Animatedly clever; intelligent.
- adj. High and clear: the bright sound of the trumpet section.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Radiating or reflecting light; filled with light; brilliant; shining; luminous; sparkling: as, a bright sun.
- Transmitting light; clear; transparent, as liquors.
- Manifest to the mind, as light is to the eye; evident; clear.
- Resplendent, as with beauty; splendid.
- Illustrious; glorious: as, the brightest period of a kingdom.
- Having or marked by brilliant mental qualities; quick in wit; witty; clever; not dull: as, he is by no means bright; a bright remark; a bright book.
- Sparkling in action or manner; animated or animating; vivacious; lively; cheerful.
- Favorable; pleasing; auspicious: as, a bright prospect.
- In painting, luminous; glittering; full of light. A picture is said to be bright when the lights so much prevail as to overcome the shadows, and are kept so clear and distinct as to produce an effect of brilliancy.
- Nautical, alert; vigilant.
- Synonyms Glowing, lustrous, gleaming, radiant, effulgent.
- Acute, intelligent, discerning.
- Promising, encouraging.
- Brightly.
- n. Brightness.
- To make bright; brighten.
- See brite.
Wiktionary
- adj. Visually dazzling; luminous, lucent, clear, radiant; not dark.
- adj. Intelligent, brilliant.
- adj. Vivid, colourful, brilliant.
- adj. Happy.
- n. An artists brush used in oil and acrylic painting with a long ferrule and a flat, somewhat tapering bristle head.
- n. A neologism intended as a positive-sounding umbrella term to describe various kinds of non-religious and non-superstitious people. (There is a Wikipedia article on this usage.)
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. See brite, v. i.
- adj. Radiating or reflecting light; shedding or having much light; shining; luminous; not dark.
- adj. Transmitting light; clear; transparent.
- adj. Having qualities that render conspicuous or attractive, or that affect the mind as light does the eye; resplendent with charms.
- adj. Having a clear, quick intellect; intelligent.
- adj. Sparkling with wit; lively; vivacious; shedding cheerfulness and joy around; cheerful; cheery.
- adj. Illustrious; glorious.
- adj. Manifest to the mind, as light is to the eyes; clear; evident; plain.
- adj. Of brilliant color; of lively hue or appearance.
- n. Splendor; brightness.
- adv. Brightly.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. splendid.
- adj. emitting or reflecting light readily or in large amounts
- adj. characterized by quickness and ease in learning
- adj. having lots of light either natural or artificial
- adj. having striking color
- adj. full or promise
- adj. not made dim or less bright
- adj. clear and sharp and ringing
- adj. made smooth and bright by or as if by rubbing; reflecting a sheen or glow
- adv. with brightness
- adj. characterized by happiness or gladness
Etymologies
- Middle English, from Old English beorht; see bherəg- in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“The noun form of the term bright refers to a person whose worldview is naturalistic--free of supernatural and mystical elements.”
“His smile melted slowly, and with it went all that had made his expression bright and young.”
“The word "bright" suggests that James is almost assuredly thinking not just of any picture of Venice, but of Canaletto's Venice.”
The Washington Post: Canaletto's paintings showed more than the tourist side of Venice
“So that green little strip that moved on through there, that's probably what we call bright banding on the radar.”
“And it would give back a very different signature, because most metal containers give back a very distinctive, very what they call bright signature, or a pang, whereas a human body, the return on the signal is not as strong.”
“The gentleman was as diligent to do justice to his fine parts, as the lady to her beauteous form: you might see his imagination on the stretch to find out something uncommon, and what they call bright, to entertain her: while she writhed herself into as many different postures to engage him.”
The Young Gentleman and Lady's Monitor, and English Teacher's Assistant
“The Gentleman was as diligent to do Justice to his fine Parts, as the Lady to her beauteous Form: You might see his Imagination on the Stretch to find out something uncommon, and what they call bright, to entertain her; while she writhed her self into as many different”
“Gentleman was as diligent to do Justice to his fine Parts, as the Lady to her beauteous Form: You might see his Imagination on the Stretch to find out something uncommon, and what they call bright, to entertain her; while she writhed her self into as many different Postures to engage him.”
The Spectator, Volume 1 Eighteenth-Century Periodical Essays
“My opinion is that you need what I call a bright line.”
“I mean … Kanako isn't really what you call a bright person.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘bright’.
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Olde Englisc
English words of Anglo-Saxon origin.
onslaught, slain, clove, clave, thrice, nincompoop, scorn, storm, scant, lurk, beneath, atop and 143 more...
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Beer and Brewing
Words about beer and the making of it.
airlock, bung, carboy, diversol, hops, mashtun, beer, sparge, trub, wort, malt, malt liquor and 184 more...
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steffany(grade 2)
accident, agree, arrive, astronomy, attention, award, aware, balance, banner, bare, base, beach and 127 more...
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Words related to knowledge
Words that relate to learning, knowing, being enlightened...
revelation, eureka, awakening, idea, sapient, astute, canny, intelligent, wise, sharp, shrewd, informed and 466 more...
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jackgrade2
accident, agree, arrive, astronomy, atlas, attention, award, aware, balance, banner, bare, base and 127 more...
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MANY A WORD!
This is just a list, right, that I'm gonna, like, fill with words, that, like, are every word that I can, like, think of with, ahhmm, my brain.
and, able, art, ass, algebra, amp, ankle, booze, bong, aura, bling, bright and 134 more...
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-ight
light, night, wight, hight, knight, fight, bright, right, fright, bight, eight, might and 174 more...
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Nature and Environment
north, east, west, mountain, sea, beach, river, northeast, northwest, southeast, southwest, island and 205 more...
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Adjectives
sagacious, average, angry, mad, crazy, giant, ugly, pretty, happy, sad, lonely, solitary and 119 more...
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Inspirational Words
<3
wish, love, truth, smile, faded, deep, shadow, bright, life, tear, tear drop, shimmer and 9 more...
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words to describe everything GOLD
emotions, reactions, senses, how do we feel when we wear gold, generational, memories,
Sensual, illuminated, history, intricate, classic, bright, luxe, sparkly, splashy, metallic, perfection, gilt and 30 more...
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Character Traits
This is a list of adjectives used by writers to help develop characters.
guileful, obsessed, brilliant, bright, naive, streetwise, streetsmart, ruthless, cruel, foolish, obsessive, introspective and 19 more...
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Light Adjectives
lucid, bright, fluorescent, luminous, lustrous, vivid, radiant, shining, clear, brilliant, scintillant, unclouded and 10 more...
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I am : bright
Verbs and adjectives (mostly adjectives) pertaining to physical light, brightness and/or clarity.
bright, brilliant, ablaze, afire, aflame, incandescent, fluorescent, phosphorescent, lucent, lambent, transparent, clear and 26 more...
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Grade 2
accident, agree, arrive, astronomy, atlas, ttention, ard, ware, attention, award, aware, balance and 18 more...

uselessness A kinder, gentler atheist naturalist person who doesn't believe in supernatural occurrences. And is demanding special rights as a minority group. Nov 30, 2007