| / English Dictionary |
BRILLIANCY
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A quality that outshines the usual
Synonyms:
brilliancy; luster; lustre; splendor; splendour
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("brilliancy" is a kind of...):
brightness (the location of a visual perception along a continuum from black to white)
Derivation:
brilliant (full of light; shining intensely)
brilliant (having strong or striking color)
brilliant (characterized by grandeur)
brilliant (having or marked by unusual and impressive intelligence)
brilliant (clear and sharp and ringing)
brilliant (of surpassing excellence)
Context examples:
Her face is too thin; her complexion has no brilliancy; and her features are not at all handsome.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
He was, at that time, a remarkably fine young man, with a great deal of intelligence, spirit, and brilliancy; and Anne an extremely pretty girl, with gentleness, modesty, taste, and feeling.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
She might have been five-and-thirty years of age, with aquiline nose, firm yet sensitive mouth, dark curving brows, and deep-set eyes which shone and sparkled with a shifting brilliancy.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
In front of them, and at the end of the road of yellow brick, was a big gate, all studded with emeralds that glittered so in the sun that even the painted eyes of the Scarecrow were dazzled by their brilliancy.
(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)
Jo's cheeks were as red as her ribbon, and she wondered what he thought of her, but she didn't care, for in a minute she found herself walking away arm in arm with her Professor, feeling as if the sun had suddenly burst out with uncommon brilliancy, that the world was all right again, and that one thoroughly happy woman was paddling through the wet that day.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
Fanny agreed to it, and had the pleasure of seeing him continue at the window with her, in spite of the expected glee; and of having his eyes soon turned, like hers, towards the scene without, where all that was solemn, and soothing, and lovely, appeared in the brilliancy of an unclouded night, and the contrast of the deep shade of the woods.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
As he glanced from Jo to several other young people, attracted by the brilliancy of the philosophic pyrotechnics, he knit his brows and longed to speak, fearing that some inflammable young soul would be led astray by the rockets, to find when the display was over that they had only an empty stick or a scorched hand.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
But she did show something better than brilliancy or skill, for she sang Beth's songs with a tender music in her voice which the best master could not have taught, and touched the listener's hearts with a sweeter power than any other inspiration could have given her.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
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