Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Emitting heat or light.
  • adjective Consisting of or emitted as radiation.
  • adjective Filled with light shining especially as rays; brightly shining: synonym: bright.
  • adjective Showing or expressing vitality or joy.
  • adjective Splendid; glorious.
  • noun An object or point from which light or heat rays are emitted.
  • noun Astronomy The apparent celestial origin of a meteoric shower.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Darting, shooting, or emitting rays of light or heat; shining; sparkling: beaming with brightness, literally or figuratively: as, the radiant sun; a radiant countenance.
  • Giving out rays; proceeding in the form of rays; resembling rays; radiating; also, radiated; radiate: as, radiant heat.
  • In heraldry:
  • Edged with rays: said of an ordinary or other bearing such as is usually bounded with straight lines, the rays generally appearing like long indentations. See ray, 8.
  • Giving off rays, which do not form a broken or indented edge to the bearing, but stream from it, its outline being usually perfect and the rays apparently streaming from behind it.
  • In botany, radiating; radiate.
  • Synonyms Beaming, resplendent. See radiance.
  • noun In optics, a luminous point or object from which light radiates to the eye, or to a mirror or lens; a point considered as the focus of a pencil of rays.
  • noun In astronomy, the point in the heavens from which the shooting-stars of a meteoric shower seem to proceed: thus, the radiant of the shower of November 13th is near the star ζ Leonis, and these meteors are hence called the Leonides.
  • noun In geometry, a ray conceived as revolving about its starting-point.
  • noun A substance that emits rays, specifically N-rays.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Opt.) The luminous point or object from which light emanates; also, a body radiating light brightly.
  • noun (Geom.) A straight line proceeding from a given point, or fixed pole, about which it is conceived to revolve.
  • noun (Astron.) The point in the heavens at which the apparent paths of shooting stars meet, when traced backward, or whence they appear to radiate.
  • adjective Emitting or proceeding as from a center; resembling rays; radiating; radiate.
  • adjective Especially, emitting or darting rays of light or heat; issuing in beams or rays; beaming with brightness; emitting a vivid light or splendor.
  • adjective Beaming with vivacity and happiness.
  • adjective (Her.) Giving off rays; -- said of a bearing
  • adjective (Bot.) Having a raylike appearance, as the large marginal flowers of certain umbelliferous plants; -- said also of the cluster which has such marginal flowers.
  • adjective (Physics) Emitted or transmitted by radiation.
  • adjective (Physics) energy given out or transmitted by radiation, as in the case of light and radiant heat.
  • adjective heat proceeding in right lines, or directly from the heated body, after the manner of light, in distinction from heat conducted or carried by intervening media.
  • adjective (Astron.) See Radiant, n., 3.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Radiating light and/or heat.
  • adjective Emitted as radiation.
  • adjective Bright, glowing or filled with light.
  • noun A point source from which radiation is emitted.
  • noun astronomy The apparent origin, in the night sky, of a meteor shower.
  • noun A straight line proceeding from a given point, or fixed pole, about which it is conceived to revolve.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective radiating or as if radiating light

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Latin radiāns, radiant-, present participle of radiāre, to radiate; see radiate.]

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Examples

  • We may also render the sentence as follows, — “I fell by the radiant rampart, (ffin)” the epithet _radiant_ having a reference to the arms of the soldiers.

    Y Gododin A Poem of the Battle of Cattraeth Aneurin 1836

  • Benedict said that "for all the shame we feel over our failings" the world must not forget what he called radiant examples of faith such as John Paul.

    The Seattle Times 2011

  • This energy source was discovered by Nicola Tesla, which he called radiant energy, and observed that this energy behaved much like a gas.

    WN.com - Business News 2010

  • This energy source was discovered by Nicola Tesla, which he called radiant energy, and observed that this energy behaved much like a gas.

    WN.com - Business News 2010

  • This energy source was discovered by Nicola Tesla, which he called radiant energy, and observed that this energy behaved much like a gas.

    WN.com - Business News 2010

  • This energy source was discovered by Nicola Tesla, which he called radiant energy, and observed that this energy behaved much like a gas.

    WN.com - Business News 2010

  • Dr. Osterman accidentally gets locked inside an intrinsic field test chamber where he is bathed in radiant light then vaporized.

    Set Visit Preview: Zack Snyder's Watchmen! « FirstShowing.net 2008

  • Like sword edge drawn from sheath in radiant line.

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • GREEN TEA WASH is enriched with the most prized ceremonial green tea, potent anti-oxidants, licorice to soothe and essential amino acids to cleanse, this gentle wash leaves skin radiant and harmonious.

    Leaf and Rusher Medical Skin Care Clinic – Unequalled Expertise in the MedSpa World 2006

  • Four years older than he, she had the Julian look: golden hair, eyes with blue in them, high cheekbones, a lovely mouth, and an expression of radiant calmness that drew people to her.

    Antony and Cleopatra Colleen McCullough 2007

Comments

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  • A modified emerald gem cut developed, patented, and trademarked by Henry Grossbard of the Radiant Cut Diamond Company (RCDC) in 1977--the first such diamond cut with brilliance and fire similar to that of a round brilliant diamond. When the patent expired, this cut became a fully accepted diamond shape in the jewelry business.

    September 24, 2007