English Explanatory Dictionary

luminary

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. One who is an inspiration to others; one who has achieved success in one's chosen field; a leading light.
  2. A body that gives light; especially, one of the heavenly bodies.
  3. An artificial light; an illumination.

Pronunciation

/ˈluːmɪn(ə)ɹi/ /ˈluməˌnɛɹi/ En-us-luminary.flac en-au-luminary.ogg

Word forms

luminary luminaries

Etymology

From Late Middle English lūminārī, lūminārīe (“lamp; source of spiritual light, example of holiness; glory”), borrowed from Old French luminarie (“lamp, lights, lighting; candles; brightness, illumination”), variant of luminaire (“light fixture”) (modern French luminaire), from Medieval Latin lūminārium, from lūmināre (“that which gives light; light; lamp; body giving light, especially a heavenly body”), from lūmen (“light; brightness”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“bright; to shine”)) + -āris (suffix forming adjectives indicating a relationship or a pertaining to). Doublet of luminaire.

Synonyms

guiding light

Related words

illuminate illuminatingly illumination illuminator illumine luminate lumination lumine luminescence luminescent luminosity luminous

Derived words

subluminary
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on L Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary