look radiant

Meaning

1. 1phraselinkingapproving

   To appear extremely happy, healthy, and bright, as if glowing.

   Grammar: 'Look' here is a linking verb, so it is followed by the adjective 'radiant', not an adverb: She looks radiant. Not 'She looks radiantly.'

   Patterns

   • someone looks radiant
   • look radiant in something
   • look radiant after something

   You look radiant this morning — did you sleep well?

   The bride looked radiant in her white dress.

   After a week at the beach, he looked radiant and relaxed.

Common combinations

look absolutely radiant

She looked absolutely radiant at her birthday party.

look radiant in a dress

He told her she looked radiant in that blue dress.

look radiant with health

The children looked radiant with health after the summer camp.

look radiant on your wedding day

Every bride hopes to look radiant on her wedding day.

Synonyms and how they differ

glow

As a verb, 'glow' means to look warm and healthy, often because of exercise or happiness: She was glowing after the race. It is more about a warm color than 'radiant', which suggests a brighter, more striking light.

look stunning

This means very beautiful or impressive, but not necessarily happy or healthy. 'Radiant' specifically suggests inner happiness or health shining out.

beam

To smile very widely and happily. It focuses on the smile, while 'look radiant' describes the whole appearance.

Opposites

Word family

radiance noun

A bright, glowing quality, especially of happiness or health.

radiantly adverb

In a bright, glowing way: She smiled radiantly.

Commonly confused: look radiant or radiantly?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “look radiant”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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