Make Your Point: LAMBENT

Make Your Point > Archived Issues > LAMBENT

Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.

pronounce LAMBENT:

LAM bunt

connect this word to others:

Something lambent is gently glowing, softly flickering, maybe on the verge of becoming lum_____ ("bright and shiny, or clear and wonderful in a way that reminds you of a bright light").

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

"Lambent" comes from the Latin lambere, which meant "to lick or lap," or "to wash or bathe."

It probably first appeared in some poems by Abraham Cowley from the 1600s. Cowley talks about "lambent flames," the kind that seem to gently lick or wash over things rather than burn them:

"Ye talk of fires which shine, but never burn;
In this cold world they'll hardly serve our turn;
As useless to despairing Lovers grown,
As Lambent flames, to men i'th'Frigid Zone."

The footnotes go on to explain: "Lambent fire is, A thin unctuous Exhalation made out of the Spirits of Animals, kindled by Motion, and burning without consuming any thing but it self. Called Lambent, from Licking over, as it were, the place it touches. It was counted a Good Omen."

Beautiful, right? Since then, we've described things as lambent when they give off a soft, gentle, playful light, or more figuratively, when they seem to shine softly, gently, and playfully with grace, style, wit, or beauty. Either way, the idea is that the light licks or bathes what it touches.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Adjective: "her lambent eyes;" "Her eyes are lambent."

Other forms:

The adverb is "lambently;" and the noun, "lambency."

how to use it:

Pick the rare, poetic word "lambent" when you want to describe something that seems to have been gently bathed in flickering light.

You might talk about literally lambent things, like lambent light, flame, warmth, colors, water, clouds, or horizons.

Or you might talk about figuratively lambent things, like lambent wit, intellect, language, art, music, or poetry.

In either case, by calling something lambent, you're implying that its brightness is noticeable but not overwhelming: that it has a nuanced or subtle kind of brightness. Lambent light is a lick, not a slather.

examples:

"It is the colors that awe most in Hindu painting of the 16th to 19th centuries: the saturated reds, the lambent golds, or the milky blues of Krishna's skin and the sky at twilight."
— Jason Farago, New York Times, 14 July 2016

"[Stevie Nicks's] voice, a strange, quivering contralto, gives her songs unexpected weight. Its tone reminds me of the gloaming—that lambent, transitional moment between night and day."
— Amanda Petrusich, The New Yorker, 21 November 2016

has this page helped you understand "lambent"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "lambent" without saying "softly glowing" or "flickering with light."

try it out:

"Lambent" must have been William Black's favorite word. In his novel A Princess of Thule, he used it seven times!

Pick the citation below that you find most beautiful, and explain why you like it or what it reminds you of from your own experiences.

1. "A long, pale line of blue smoke lay in the motionless air, and the voices of the children told of open doors... How to carry away, except in the memory, any impression of the strange, lambent darkness, the tender hues, the loneliness and the pathos of those Northern twilights?"

2. "There was not much moon now, but a clear and lambent twilight showed all the familiar features of Loch Roag and the Southern hills, and down there in the bay you could vaguely make out the Maighdean-mharra rocking in the tiny waves that washed in on the white shore."

3. "Out in Sheila's boat, with the great yellow moon rising up over Suainabhal and Mealasabhal into a lambent vault of violet sky; a pathway of quivering gold lying across the Loch; a mild radiance glittering here and there on the spars of the small vessel, and out there the great Atlantic lying still and distant as in a dream."

4. "Far away the orange ray of a lighthouse began to quiver in the lambent dusk."

5. "And lo! the rough gray day broke asunder, and a great blaze of fire appeared in the West, shining across the moors and touching the blue slopes of the distant hills. Sheila was getting near the region of beautiful sunsets and lambent twilights and the constant movement and mystery of the sea."

6. "She... [looked] around on the calm sea, the lambent skies and the far mountains beyond, which were gray and ghost-like in the pale glow of the moon."

7. "The sun had long sunk, but there was a glow all over the heavens... As the night came on the yellow stars grew more intense overhead, but the lambent glow in the North did not pale."

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game this month is "What Are You Implying?"

Build your word-finding muscle as you reach for synonyms for various implications.

For example, what's a synonym for "living thing" that
1. ...implies that someone made it?
2. ...implies that it simply exists?
3. ...implies that it has an intangible essence?

Your answers could be 1. "creature," 2. "being," and 3. "soul."

Try these today:

What's a synonym for "to worry" that
1. ...implies that someone is twisting back and forth with worry?
2. ...implies that someone is causing themselves pain?
3. ...implies that someone has worried for so long that their sense of hope is disappearing?

To see some possible answers, scroll all the way down.

review this word:

1. Opposites of LAMBENT include

A. DARK and GLARING.
B. STRAIGHT and CAREENING.
C. WHIMPERING and ROARING.

2. According to the Washington Post, the movie Genius is "_____," full of "_____" and "lambent prose."

A. radical .. ruthlessness
B. laconic .. self-sabotage
C. affecting .. autumnal beauty

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
On vocabulary...
  36 ways to study words.
  Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
  How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

Make Your Point > Archived Issues > LAMBENT Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.

Subscribe to "Make Your Point" for a daily vocabulary boost.

Make Your Point > Archived Issues > LAMBENT

Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.