Meaning & use
fluorescent lighting
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Meanings
noununcountabletechnical
Lighting produced by glass tubes or bulbs in which electricity excites a gas and a coating inside the glass, making visible light.
Grammar: No plural: the fluorescent lighting in the office.
Patterns
- under fluorescent lighting
- fluorescent lighting in a place
Fluorescent lighting is common in offices and schools.
The warehouse had bright fluorescent lighting overhead.
Buzzing fluorescent lighting made the hallway feel cold.
noununcountableinformal
The harsh, flat, bluish quality of light, as perceived by a person in a space lit this way.
Grammar: Often used with negative or descriptive adjectives: harsh, flickering, glaring.
Patterns
- harsh fluorescent lighting
The photo looked sickly under the fluorescent lighting.
I find the flickering fluorescent lighting tiring.
The shop's fluorescent lighting makes everyone look pale.
Common combinations
- harsh fluorescent lighting
- Harsh fluorescent lighting filled the waiting room.
- flickering fluorescent lighting
- The flickering fluorescent lighting gave her a headache.
- under fluorescent lighting
- Everyone looks tired under fluorescent lighting.
- install fluorescent lighting
- They installed fluorescent lighting in the garage.
- replace fluorescent lighting
- The school plans to replace its fluorescent lighting with LEDs.
Synonyms and how they differ
- strip lighting
- Strip lighting is British and refers to long tube fittings, whereas fluorescent lighting names the technology.
- tube lighting
- Tube lighting describes the shape, while fluorescent lighting describes how the light is made.
- overhead lighting
- Overhead lighting says where the light is placed and could be any type, not only fluorescent.
- LED lighting
- LED lighting is a different technology that is usually more efficient and does not use a gas-filled tube.
Opposites
Word family
- fluorescence noun
- light given off by a substance after absorbing energy
- fluoresce verb
- to give off light after absorbing radiation
- fluorescent adjective
- giving off light in this way, or very bright in color
- lighting noun
- the arrangement or type of lights in a place
Commonly confused: fluorescent lighting or phosphorescent? fluorescent lighting or incandescent?
fluorescent lighting vs phosphorescent
Phosphorescent materials keep glowing after the energy source is removed, while fluorescent ones stop quickly.
fluorescent lighting vs incandescent
Incandescent light comes from a heated filament, whereas fluorescent light comes from a glowing gas and coating.
Practice
The long white tubes buzzing on the classroom ceiling are an example of ____.
Choose one answer.
Fluorescent lighting uses tubes and often buzzes, matching the description. Candles, moonlight and firelight do not use ceiling tubes.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “fluorescent lighting”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.