VISIBLE LIGHT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does visible light mean? 

• VISIBLE LIGHT (noun)
  The noun VISIBLE LIGHT has 1 sense:

1. (physics) electromagnetic radiation that can produce a visual sensation

  Familiarity information: VISIBLE LIGHT used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• VISIBLE LIGHT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(physics) electromagnetic radiation that can produce a visual sensation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Synonyms:

light; visible light; visible radiation

Context example:

the light was filtered through a soft glass window

Hypernyms ("visible light" is a kind of...):

actinic radiation; actinic ray (electromagnetic radiation that can produce photochemical reactions)

Domain category:

natural philosophy; physics (the science of matter and energy and their interactions)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "visible light"):

half-light (a greyish light (as at dawn or dusk or in dim interiors))

twilight (the diffused light from the sky when the sun is below the horizon but its rays are refracted by the atmosphere of the earth)

torchlight (light from a torch or torches)

streamer (light that streams)

scintillation ((physics) a flash of light that is produced in a phosphor when it absorbs a photon or ionizing particle)

sun; sunlight; sunshine (the rays of the sun)

starlight (the light of the stars)

Moon; moonlight; moonshine (the light of the Moon)

meteor; shooting star (a streak of light in the sky at night that results when a meteoroid hits the earth's atmosphere and air friction causes the meteoroid to melt or vaporize or explode)

luminescence (light not due to incandescence; occurs at low temperatures)

lamplight (light from a lamp)

glow; incandescence (the phenomenon of light emission by a body as its temperature is raised)

beam; beam of light; irradiation; light beam; ray; ray of light; shaft; shaft of light (a column of light (as from a beacon))

glow (a steady even light without flames)

glow; glowing; radiance (the amount of electromagnetic radiation leaving or arriving at a point on a surface)

gaslight (light yielded by the combustion of illuminating gas)

friar's lantern; ignis fatuus; jack-o'-lantern; will-o'-the-wisp (a pale light sometimes seen at night over marshy ground)

fluorescence (light emitted during absorption of radiation of some other (invisible) wavelength)

firelight (the light of a fire (especially in a fireplace))

daylight (light during the daytime)

counterglow; gegenschein (a faint spot of light in the night sky that appears directly opposite the position of the sun; a reflection of sunlight by micrometeoric material in space)

corona (one or more circles of light seen around a luminous object)

candle flame; candlelight (the light provided by a burning candle)

Holonyms ("visible light" is a part of...):

electromagnetic spectrum (the entire frequency range of electromagnetic waves)

 Context examples 

The radiation emitted is usually of longer wavelength than that incident or absorbed, e.g., a substance can be irradiated with invisible radiation and emit visible light.

(Fluorescence, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

A device that uses x-rays instead of visible light to form images of very small structures, such as the insides of blood vessels and cells.

(Nanoprobe, NCI Dictionary)

It is estimated to have occurred about 110 years ago in a dusty region of the Galaxy that blocked visible light from reaching Earth.

(Trigger for Milky Way’s Youngest Supernova Identified, NASA)

Treatment with radiation, generally meaning exposure to ionizing radiation or radiation of wavelengths shorter than those of visible light.

(Irradiation, NCI Thesaurus)

The visible light coming from distant worlds carries a lot of information that can be analyzed with a spectroscope.

(Does Our Galaxy Sound Like Funky Blues Music?, George Putic/VOA)

In the presence of electron donors, some anthrapyrazole antibiotics cause single-strand breaks in DNA via photosensitization by visible light.

(Anthrapyrazole, NCI Thesaurus)

The brilliant flash of an exploding star's shockwave, what astronomers call the "shock breakout" has been captured for the first time in visible light by the Kepler space telescope.

(Kepler Catches Early Flash of an Exploding Star, NASA)

Infrared wavelengths of light are longer than visible light and cannot be seen with the naked eye.

(Studies Find Echoes of Black Holes Eating Stars, NASA)

Taken in visible light, the images highlight the changes occurring to the star both in brightness and in apparent shape.

(ESO Telescope Sees Surface of Dim Betelgeuse, ESO)

No visible light was detected with the X-ray source, a fact that most likely rules out the possibility that it is also a supernova.

(NASA Satellite Spots a Mystery That's Gone in a Flash, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)