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: the attribute of light-source colors by which emitted light is ordered continuously from light to dark in correlation with its intensity compare hue sense 2c, lightness entry 1 sense 2a, saturation sense 4
Examples of brightness in a Sentence
the brightness of the sunshine made me squint after an afternoon spent in a darkened movie theater
Recent Examples on the Web
Final thoughts For context, my backyard sky falls somewhere between 7 and 8 on the Bortle scale, a nine-level system used by astronomers to classify the brightness of the night sky and the impact of light pollution.
—
Daisy Dobrijevic, Space.com, 15 May 2026
And Rubin will discover much more than TNOs, too, by virtue of its emphasis on time-domain astronomy—the study of objects such as asteroids, novae, supernovae and active galaxies that move and vary in brightness.
—Phil Plait, Scientific American, 15 May 2026
But even with this 100-fold boost in brightness, LAP1-B is so dim that neither the JWST nor Hubble could detect its stellar continuum—the steady background light of its stars.
—Jacek Krywko, ArsTechnica, 13 May 2026
Kristen finds her way back to her natural vivacity, but the brightness burns differently.
—Sheri Linden, HollywoodReporter, 13 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for brightness
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Daisy Dobrijevic, Space.com, 15 May 2026
And Rubin will discover much more than TNOs, too, by virtue of its emphasis on time-domain astronomy—the study of objects such as asteroids, novae, supernovae and active galaxies that move and vary in brightness.
—Phil Plait, Scientific American, 15 May 2026
But even with this 100-fold boost in brightness, LAP1-B is so dim that neither the JWST nor Hubble could detect its stellar continuum—the steady background light of its stars.
—Jacek Krywko, ArsTechnica, 13 May 2026
Kristen finds her way back to her natural vivacity, but the brightness burns differently.
—Sheri Linden, HollywoodReporter, 13 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for brightness
Cite this Entry
“Brightness.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/brightness. Accessed 21 May. 2026.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
brightness
noun
bright·ness
ˈbrīt-nəs 
: the one of the three psychological dimensions of color perception by which visual stimuli are ordered continuously from light to dark and which is correlated with light intensity compare hue, saturation sense 4a
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