OPALESCENT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does opalescent mean? 

• OPALESCENT (adjective)
  The adjective OPALESCENT has 1 sense:

1. having a play of lustrous rainbow colors

  Familiarity information: OPALESCENT used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OPALESCENT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having a play of lustrous rainbow colors

Synonyms:

iridescent; nacreous; opalescent; opaline; pearlescent

Context example:

a milky opalescent (or opaline) luster

Similar:

bright (emitting or reflecting light readily or in large amounts)

Derivation:

opalesce (exhibit a play of colors like that of an opal)

opalesce (reflect light or colors like an opal)

opalescence (the visual property of something having a milky brightness and a play of colors from the surface)

 Context examples 

A lesion which is characterized by an irregularly nodular opalescent wall which has caused it to be termed a "pearly tumor".

(Central Nervous System Epidermoid Cyst, NCI Thesaurus)

The first faint winter’s dawn was beginning to appear, and we could dimly see the occasional figure of an early workman as he passed us, blurred and indistinct in the opalescent London reek.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)