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Word of the Day:
LAMBENT (adj.)
Definition(s):
- (adj.) flickering lightly over a surface
- (adj.) softly bright or radiant; luminous
- (adj.) marked by lightness or brilliance
Useful info for word game players:
- Front hooks: (none)
- Back hooks: (none)
- Anagrams: (none)
- Longer extensions: lambentLY
- Wraparounds: (none)
- Other Spellings: (none)
- Related Forms: LAMBENCY (n.), LAMBENTLY (adv.)
Epilogue:
This word calls to mind images of flames licking at the edges of a fire — appropriately so, since it derives from the Latin lambere, meaning “to lick.” It is often used in relation to fire or light:Behind on the little hill the darkling woods lie calm, the edges of the fir-trees cut sharp against the sky, which is clear with a crescent moon and the lambent lights of the starry hosts of heaven.
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, The Newcomes (1854)
Out of airless space, a lambent column of blue-white light shot down into the two-story Victorian farmhouse, instantly vaporizing a core two meters in diameter. The rest of the structure exploded. Flames filled the night.
~ Dean Koontz, Dark Rivers of the Heart (2007)
Though it can also be used figuratively to refer to mental wit or brilliance:He had a quick and lambent mind which could shear its way through a mass of detail and seize upon those aspects of a problem which are fundamental and decisive.
~ Graya magazine (1946)
Speaking of brilliance, our week of fun with adjectives has come to an end, but tune in next week for more shining examples of lambent wordsmithery!
Recapping this week’s featured words:
ADUMBRAL, IRENIC, MEPHITIC, and LAMBENT
Also mentioned:
ADUMBRATE, IRENICS, MEPHITIS, PACIFIC, PEACEFUL, PENUMBRA, UMBRA, and UMBRAGE
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