effulgent
- Radiantly bright and resplendent; shining brilliantly and with great intensity.
In a sentence
- Turner's painting captured the effulgent light of a midsummer sunrise breaking over the Thames with almost painful brilliance.
- The guru sat in the courtyard, his expression so peaceful that observers later described it as somehow effulgent.
Usage note. 'Effulgent' implies an outward, almost explosive radiance — choose it over 'bright' when you wish to suggest that the light seems to pour outward from a source rather than simply exist.
Where it comes from
English effulgent — “brilliantly radiant” · entered English 18th c.
From Latin 'effulgent-,' the present participle stem of 'effulgere,' meaning 'to shine forth,' composed of 'ex-' (out, forth) and 'fulgere' (to shine, flash). Latin 'fulgere' traces to Proto-Indo-European '*bhelg-' meaning 'to shine' or 'to flash.' The word entered English in the mid-18th century, around the 1730s, chiefly in literary and poetic usage.