fluorescent
Other forms: fluorescents
A fluorescent bulb gets its light from mercury vapor inside a glass tube. The incandescent bulb — the kind associated with Thomas Edison — has a filament that glows when it's heated.
You can also use fluorescent to describe something that's so vivid and bright it seems to give off light. Fluorescent is related to the word fluorspar, or fluorite, which is a mineral that glows. Notice the -u- in these words. Fluorescent comes from the Latin fluere "to flow" — fluorspar can be added to welding compounds, for instance, to make them flow more easily. Florescent, without a -u-, means "flowering," from Latin flor-, which is a completely different root.
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emitting light during exposure to radiation from an external sourcesynonyms:lightcharacterized by or emitting light
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brilliantly colored and apparently giving off light
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a lighting fixture that uses a fluorescent lampsynonyms: fluorescent fixturetype of:lighting fixturea fixture providing artificial light
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Vocabulary lists containing fluorescent
Nick Allen is a lively kid with big plans. When his newest idea catches on like wildfire, Nick surprises his teachers, his school, and even himself.
Siblings Evan and Jessie engage in an all-out war to sell the most lemonade before school starts.
Two separate stories — the first told in illustrations and the second in prose — combine to create a marvelous whole in this book from the Caldecott-winning author of The Invention of Hugo Cabret.