What does "fluoresce" mean?

To emit electromagnetic radiation, especially visible light, when absorbing radiation of some other wavelength.

Fluoresce

//fləˈɹɛs// verb

verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Verb

1
To emit electromagnetic radiation, especially visible light, when absorbing radiation of some other wavelength. intransitive
"The blinding light did not hurt, it filled him, he glowed, all his veins fluoresced, each one alive with new growth."
2
exhibit or undergo fluorescence wordnet
3
To cause to fluoresce; to make fluorescent. transitive
"During right robotic thymectomy, fluorescence imaging facilitates identification of the contralateral phrenic nerve by fluorescing the pericardiophrenic vessels."
4
Of colours, to be very bright; to be so bright as to appear to radiate as a light source. intransitive

"The blinding light did not hurt, it filled him, he glowed, all his veins fluoresced, each one alive with new growth."

Back-formation from fluorescence.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.