lambent

adjective

lam·​bent ˈlam-bənt 

1

: playing lightly on or over a surface : flickering

2

: softly bright or radiant

3

: marked by lightness or brilliance especially of expression

lambently adverb

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Lambent and Flames

In his short story “The Word,” Vladimir Nabokov limned a dream-like landscape where “a wind, like the foretaste of a miracle, played in my hair” and grasses “lapped at the tree trunks like tongues of fire.” Both the wind and the grass in these passages might be described by one of the oldest senses of lambent: “playing lightly over a surface.” That Nabokov compared flames to tongues, as people often do, is doubly appropriate. Lambent, which first appeared in English in the 17th century, is a part of this tradition, coming from lambens, a form of the Latin verb lambere, meaning “to lick.” (Lap, as in “waves lapping at the shore,” also counts lambere among its distant relations.) Early uses of lambent were usually applied to flames or light (it can also mean “flickering”), and by way of that association, the term eventually came to describe things with a radiant or brilliant glow, first in a literal sense (“a lambent sunset”) and later a figurative one applied to prose, music, and other expressions marked by lightness or brilliance.

Synonyms

• beaming
• bedazzling
• bright
• brilliant
• candescent
• clear
• dazzling
• effulgent
• fulgent
• glowing
• incandescent
• lucent
• lucid
• luminous
• lustrous
• radiant
• refulgent
• sheeny
• shining
• shiny
• splendid

Examples of lambent in a Sentence

lambent sunlight glinting off the waves

a writer known for her lambent wit

Recent Examples on the Web

Where Magid set out to work through, with lambent melancholy, his personal connection to Zionism and its discontents, Feldman seems to have wanted to write a book about anything but Zionism. —Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker, 15 Feb. 2024

Tunnel to Towers has become a lambent example of our civil society working just as ... —Neal B. Freeman, National Review, 22 Sep. 2023

At the top end of the market, the power to authenticate a Picasso, a Rothko, a Hepworth, is a lambent, magical thing. —Sam Knight, The New Yorker, 19 Sep. 2022

Finally, a razor-sharp line appeared ahead of us where the lambent sea ended and blackness began. —Sam Keck Scott, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 June 2022

Rich and round with lambent acidity and a hint of orange citrics. —Tom Mullen, Forbes, 22 May 2022

Within minutes the profile of the 2021 vintage emerged: bright and lambent acidity integrated with spry aromas of slightly wild red fruits—country lane strawberries and young raspberries—before a background of subtle, silky tannins. —Tom Mullen, Forbes, 27 Mar. 2022

In the mouth, a powerhouse of scintillating flavors—precise, clean, vibrant—provide a rich, layered, lambent dessert wine. —Tom Mullen, Forbes, 31 Oct. 2021

Silky tannins, lambent red fruit flavors—cherries, raspberries, light plums, passionfruit. —Tom Mullen, Forbes, 31 Oct. 2021

Word History

Etymology

Latin lambent-, lambens, present participle of lambere to lick — more at lap

First Known Use

1647, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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Kids Definition

lambent

adjective

lam·​bent ˈlam-bənt 

1

: playing lightly over a surface : flickering

2

: softly radiant