Meaning & use
incandescent
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivenot comparabletechnical
Giving off light because of being heated to a very high temperature; glowing brightly from heat.
Grammar: Used to describe objects like bulbs or metal; it does not usually take 'more' or 'most'.
Patterns
- incandescent light
- incandescent bulb
- incandescent with heat
The incandescent filament inside the bulb glows white-hot.
Incandescent lamps are being replaced by more efficient LED lights.
The metal became incandescent as it was heated in the furnace.
adjectivecomparablefigurative
Showing very strong emotion, especially anger or brilliance, as if burning brightly.
Grammar: Often used with 'with': incandescent with rage. It can also describe a brilliant performance.
Patterns
- incandescent with rage
- incandescent with anger
- incandescent performance
She was incandescent with rage when she heard the news.
His incandescent performance won him a standing ovation.
The critic described the novel as an incandescent work of genius.
Word forms
| comparative | more incandescent |
|---|---|
| superlative | most incandescent |
Common combinations
- incandescent light
- The room was lit by a single incandescent light.
- incandescent bulb
- He replaced the incandescent bulb with an LED one.
- incandescent with rage
- The coach was incandescent with rage after the defeat.
- incandescent lamp
- Incandescent lamps are less energy-efficient.
Synonyms and how they differ
- glowing
- Glowing can mean giving off light without necessarily being very hot; incandescent specifically implies heat is the cause.
- furious
- Furious means extremely angry; incandescent is a more literary or emphatic way to say the same, often used in the phrase 'incandescent with rage'.
Opposites
Word family
- incandescence noun
- The quality of glowing because of heat.
- incandescently adverb
- In a way that glows from heat, or figuratively, with intense emotion.
Commonly confused: incandescent or iridescent? incandescent or luminescent?
incandescent vs iridescent
Iridescent means showing changing colors like a soap bubble, while incandescent means glowing from heat.
incandescent vs luminescent
Luminescent means giving off light without heat, as in a firefly; incandescent light is produced by heat.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'incandescent' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Option 1 correctly uses 'incandescent with joy' to mean intensely happy. Option 0 is wrong because incandescent bulbs are hot, not cool. Option 2 is wrong because fireflies are luminescent, not incandescent. Option 3 is not a natural use of the word.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “incandescent”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.