Luminosity

noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    the state of being luminous, or a luminous object; brilliance or radiance uncountable

    "They reported encountering a luminosity of great intensity and loving angelic beings."

  2. 2
    the quality of being luminous; emitting or reflecting light wordnet
  3. 3
    the ratio of luminous flux to radiant flux at the same wavelength; the luminosity factor countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    The rate at which a star radiates energy in all directions. countable, uncountable

    "We recognize the same pattern as in the left panel, with dM stars being much less frequent flarers than dMe stars of similar luminosity."

Synonyms

All synonyms
ardencybrightnessbrightness levelflareglowillumination

Example

More examples

"Henrietta Swan Leavitt discovered the relation between the luminosity and the period of Cepheid variable stars."

Etymology

Borrowed from French luminosité or else a native formation from luminous + -ity.

Related phrases

Eddington luminosityhigh-luminositylow-luminosityluminosity distanceluminosity functionsolar luminosityluminosity factorluminous fluxradiant flux

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