English Dictionary

PHOSPHORESCENT

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does phosphorescent mean? 

PHOSPHORESCENT (adjective)
  The adjective PHOSPHORESCENT has 1 sense:

1. emitting light without appreciable heat as by slow oxidation of phosphorousplay

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


 Dictionary entry details 


PHOSPHORESCENT (adjective)


Sense 1

Meaning:

Emitting light without appreciable heat as by slow oxidation of phosphorous

Context example:

the phosphorescent glow of decaying wood

Similar:

light (characterized by or emitting light)

Derivation:

phosphoresce (to exhibit phosphorescence)

phosphorescence (a fluorescence that persists after the bombarding radiation has ceased)


 Context examples 


With astonishing luck, these energetic cancer stem cells are color-coded which means they have a natural phosphorescent glow, making them easy to identify and target.

(‘Energetic Cancer Cells’ May Be Origin of Cancer Spread, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

All round me were little ripples, combing over with a sharp, bristling sound and slightly phosphorescent.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

His eyes were open, and he watched the ghostly, phosphorescent trails of the darting bonita.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I will tell, too, of the great nocturnal white thing—to this day we do not know whether it was beast or reptile—which lived in a vile swamp to the east of the lake, and flitted about with a faint phosphorescent glimmer in the darkness.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)



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