English Explanatory Dictionary

bright

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Emitting much light; visually dazzling; luminous, lucent, radiant.
  2. Of light: brilliant, intense.
  3. Of an object, surface, etc.: reflecting much light; having a high lustre; gleaming, shiny.
  4. Of a place: not dark; well-lit.
  5. Of climate or weather: not cloudy or gloomy; fair; also, of a period of time, the sky, etc.: characterized by much sunshine and good weather.
  6. Clearly apparent; conspicuous.
  7. Of a colour: not muted or pale; bold, brilliant, vivid.
  8. Of an object, surface, etc.: having vivid colour(s); colourful.
  9. Of a musical instrument, sound, or a voice: clearly audible; clear, resounding, and often high-pitched.
  10. Of a room or other place: having acoustic qualities that tend to cause much echoing or reverberation of sound, particularly at high frequencies.
  11. Of a scent or taste: having an agreeable balance of sweet and sour, often with associations of coolness, freshness, and sometimes aromaticity.
  12. Of a scent or taste: not bland or mild; bold, sharp, strong.
noun
  1. Brightness, glow.
  2. Glory, splendour.
  3. Something (especially a product intended for sale) that has vivid colours or a lustrous appearance.
  4. A person with a naturalistic worldview with no mystical or supernatural elements.
  5. An artist's brush used in acrylic and oil painting with a long ferrule and a flat, somewhat tapering bristle head.
adv
  1. In a bright manner; brightly, glowingly, luminously, lustrously.
  2. Referring to colour: with bold or vivid colours; brightly, boldly, vividly.
  3. Referring to sight, sound, understanding, etc.: clearly, distinctly; brightly.
verb
  1. Often followed by up: to cast light on (someone or something); to brighten, to illuminate.
  2. Often followed by up: to cause (someone or something) to be bright (in various senses); to brighten; specifically, to make (someone or something) energetic, or happy and optimistic.
  3. Often followed by up: to become bright (in various senses); to brighten.
name
  1. A surname.
  2. A census-designated place in Dearborn County, Indiana, United States.
  3. An unincorporated community in Roane County, West Virginia, United States.
  4. An unincorporated community in Green Grove, Clark County, Wisconsin, United States.
  5. A civil parish in York County, New Brunswick, Canada.
  6. A town in Alpine Shire, north-east Victoria, Australia.
  7. A civil parish and townland in County Down, Northern Ireland.

Pronunciation

/ˈbɹaɪ̯t/ En-us-bright.ogg /ˈbɹɐɪ̯t/ /ˈbɹʌɪ̯t/ /ˈbɹɜɪ̯t/ /ˈbɹəɪ̯t/ /ˈbɹɑ̟ɪ̯t/ /ˈbɹɒ̈ɪ̯t/ /ˈbɹɑ̟e̝t/ /ˈbɹɒ̈e̝t/ /ˈbɹaːt/

Word forms

bright brighter brightest brights more bright most bright brighting brighted no-table-tags glossary brightedst brighteth

Etymology

The adjective is from Middle English bright, from Old English beorht, from Proto-West Germanic *berht, from Proto-Germanic *berhtaz (“bright”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerHǵ- (“to shine, to gleam, whiten”). The noun is derived from Middle English bright (“brightness, brilliance; daylight; light”), from bright (adjective): see above. The English word is cognate with Albanian bardhë (“white”), Dutch brecht (in personal names), Icelandic bjartur (“bright”), Lithuanian brekšta (“to dawn”), Middle Irish brafad (“blink of an eye”), Norwegian bjart (“bright, clear, shining”), Persian برازیدن (barâzidan, “to beautify; to befit”), Northern Luri بڵێز (bełız, “blaze”) Russian бре́зжить (brézžitʹ, “to dawn; to flicker faintly, glimmer; (figuratively) of a hope, thought, etc.: to begin to manifest, emerge”), Sanskrit भ्राजते (bhrājate), Scots bricht (“bright”), Welsh berth (“beautiful, fair, fine”) (obsolete).

Synonyms

lustrous gleamy glisteny mirrorlike mirrory relucent shining shiny splendent zazzy berserk blissed out blithe buoyant blithesome bonnie bright cheerful cheerly cheery chuffed cock-a-hoop content contented convivial delighted ebullient ecstatic elated enthusiastic euphoric excited exhilarated exuberant exultant fat and happy gassed gay gayful giddy glad gladsome gleeful gleesome happy hearty hyped high on life jovial joyful joyous merry mirthsome on cloud nine overjoyed overjoyous over the moon pacific perky placated

Antonyms

dull atrabiliary atrabilious blitheless dispirited blue bummed out chapfallen cheerless chopfallen crestfallen cut up damp dejected depressed despondent disgruntled disconsolate disheartened dismal doleful dolesome down down in the dumps down in the mouth downcast downhearted downsome elegiac elegious forlorn gloomy glum grief-stricken grieving heavy-hearted heartsore heartsick inconsolable infelicitous jawfallen joyless lachrymose lamentful low low-spirited lugubrious lumpish melancholic melancholy miserable moody mopey morose mournful passionate plaintive Plutonian Plutonic querulous

Derived words

bright and morning star bright as a button bright as a new button bright as a new coin bright as a new dollar bright as a new penny bright as a new pin brighten bright-eyed bright eyed and bushy tailed bright-eyed and bushy-tailed bright field bright giant bright green brightish brightleaf bright lights bright lights and cold steel bright line bright-line rule brightly bright nail brightness bright-rumped attila Bright Saturday bright shiny object bright side brightsizing brightsmith bright soliton brightsome bright spark brights bright spot Bright Week brightwork bright young people Bright Young Thing cold steel and bright lights early bright embrighten eyebright gold-bright honour bright look on the bright side look on the bright side of it meadow bright night-bright noblebright overbright radio-bright Retr0bright see-bright sunbright superbright the candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long ultrabright unbright underbright bright and early
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