the condition of being bright - a former name for
luminosity 4 the experienced intensity of light
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026
bright•ness
(brīt′nis),USA pronunciation n.
- the quality of being bright.
- Opticsthe luminance of a body, apart from its hue or saturation, that an observer uses to determine the comparative luminance of another body. Pure white has the maximum brightness, and pure black the minimum brightness.
- Middle English brihtnes, Old English beorhtnes. See bright, -ness bef. 950
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
'brightness' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
Cepheid variable
- besmirch
- black
- blaze
- bright
- brightener
- brightening agent
- brilliance
- burnish
- candour
- chrominance
- color
- contrast
- defile
- dim
- dingy
- drab
- dull
- eclipsing variable
- fade
- faint
- feeble
- foil
- foot-lambert
- ganoid
- gaudy
- glance
- glass
- gleam
- glint
- glisten
- gloom
- glow
- gold
- half-light
- irregular variable
- isophote
- lambert
- latitude
- laughing
- light
- light curve
- luminance
- luminosity
- luster
- magnitude
- neat
- negative
- nit
- nova