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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

bright.

Emitting much light; visually dazzling; luminous, lucent, radiant.

6 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈbɹaɪ̯t/General-American, Received-Pronunciation[ˈbɹʷaɪ̯t]General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈbɹɐɪ̯t/[ˈbɹʷɐɪ̯t]
  1. Emitting much light; visually dazzling; luminous, lucent, radiant.

    The sky was remarkably bright and blue on that beautiful summer day.
  2. Of light: brilliant, intense.

    Could you please dim the light? It’s far too bright.
  3. Of an object, surface, etc.: reflecting much light; having a high lustre; gleaming, shiny.

  4. Of a place: not dark; well-lit.

  5. Of climate or weather: not cloudy or gloomy; fair; also, of a period of time, the sky, etc.: characterized by much sunshine and good weather.

  6. Clearly apparent; conspicuous.

    figuratively
  7. Of a colour: not muted or pale; bold, brilliant, vivid.

    figuratively
  8. Of an object, surface, etc.: having vivid colour(s); colourful.

    figuratively
    The orange and blue walls of the sitting room were much brighter than the dull grey walls of the kitchen.
  9. Of a musical instrument, sound, or a voice: clearly audible; clear, resounding, and often high-pitched.

    figuratively
  10. Of a room or other place: having acoustic qualities that tend to cause much echoing or reverberation of sound, particularly at high frequencies.

    figuratively
  11. Of a scent or taste: having an agreeable balance of sweet and sour, often with associations of coolness, freshness, and sometimes aromaticity.

    figuratively
  12. Of a scent or taste: not bland or mild; bold, sharp, strong.

    figuratively
  13. Of a substance: clear, transparent; also, pure, unadulterated; (specifically) of wine: free of suspended particles; not cloudy; fine.

    figuratively
  14. Glorious; illustrious.

    figuratively
  15. In good spirits; happy, optimistic.

    figuratively
    I woke up today feeling so bright that I decided to have a little dance.
  16. Of the face or eyes, or a smile: showing happiness or hopefulness; cheerful, lively.

    figuratively
  17. Of a person: lively, vivacious.

    figuratively
  18. Of a period of history or time: happy, prosperous, successful.

    figuratively
    She has a bright future ahead.
  19. Of an opportunity or outlook: having a reasonable chance of success; favourable, good.

    figuratively
    If he trains hard, his chances of winning the competition are bright.
  20. Of conversation, writing, etc.: imaginative or sparkling with wit; clever, witty.

    figuratively
  21. Having a clear, quick intellect; intelligent.

    figuratively
    She’s very bright. She was able to solve the problem without my help.
  22. Of the eyes: able to see clearly; of eyesight: keen, sharp.

    archaic · figuratively
  23. Manifest to the mind as light is to the eyes; clear, evident, plain.

    archaic · figuratively
  24. Of a rhythm or tempo: lively, upbeat.

    figuratively
  25. Of a note: slightly sharp.

    figuratively
  26. Of a metal object or surface: lacking any protective coating or surface treatment for the prevention of corrosion.

Where this word comes from

The adjective is from Middle English bright, from Old English berht, beorht, bryht, byrht, from Proto-West Germanic *berht, from Proto-Germanic *berhtaz (“bright”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerHǵ- (“to gleam, shine, whiten”). The noun is derived from Middle English bright (“brightness, brilliance; daylight; light”), from bright (adjective): see above. Cognates Cognate with Scots bricht (“bright”), Danish bjært (“bright”), Faroese and Icelandic bjartur (“bright”), Norwegian Nynorsk bjart (“bright”), Swedish bjärt (“bright”), Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌷𐍄𐍃 (bairhts, “bright, clear; evident”); also Welsh berth (“beautiful, fair, fine”), Albanian bardhë (“white”), Lithuanian brėkšti (“to dawn”), Polish brzeżdżyć (“to dawn”), Russian бре́зжить (brézžitʹ, “to dawn”), Persian برازیدن (barâzidan, “to beautify; to befit”).

noun/ˈbɹaɪ̯t/General-American, Received-Pronunciation[ˈbɹʷaɪ̯t]General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈbɹɐɪ̯t/[ˈbɹʷɐɪ̯t]
  1. Brightness, glow.

    archaic · literary
  2. Glory, splendour.

    archaic · figuratively · literary
  3. Something (especially a product intended for sale) that has vivid colours or a lustrous appearance.

    in-plural
  4. A person with a naturalistic worldview with no mystical or supernatural elements.

  5. An artist's brush used in acrylic and oil painting with a long ferrule and a flat, somewhat tapering bristle head.

Where this word comes from

The adjective is from Middle English bright, from Old English berht, beorht, bryht, byrht, from Proto-West Germanic *berht, from Proto-Germanic *berhtaz (“bright”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerHǵ- (“to gleam, shine, whiten”). The noun is derived from Middle English bright (“brightness, brilliance; daylight; light”), from bright (adjective): see above. Cognates Cognate with Scots bricht (“bright”), Danish bjært (“bright”), Faroese and Icelandic bjartur (“bright”), Norwegian Nynorsk bjart (“bright”), Swedish bjärt (“bright”), Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌷𐍄𐍃 (bairhts, “bright, clear; evident”); also Welsh berth (“beautiful, fair, fine”), Albanian bardhë (“white”), Lithuanian brėkšti (“to dawn”), Polish brzeżdżyć (“to dawn”), Russian бре́зжить (brézžitʹ, “to dawn”), Persian برازیدن (barâzidan, “to beautify; to befit”).

adv/ˈbɹaɪ̯t/General-American, Received-Pronunciation[ˈbɹʷaɪ̯t]General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈbɹɐɪ̯t/[ˈbɹʷɐɪ̯t]
  1. In a bright manner; brightly, glowingly, luminously, lustrously.

    literary · often
  2. Referring to colour: with bold or vivid colours; brightly, boldly, vividly.

    figuratively
  3. Referring to sight, sound, understanding, etc.: clearly, distinctly; brightly.

    archaic · figuratively
Where this word comes from

From Middle English brighte (“brightly; (figuratively) brilliantly, lustrously; of colour: boldly, vividly; clearly, distinctly; of voice: loudly”) [and other forms], from Old English breohte, beorhte (West Saxon) [and other forms], ultimately from Proto-Germanic *berhtaz (“bright, shining”); see further at etymology 1.

verb/ˈbɹaɪ̯t/General-American, Received-Pronunciation[ˈbɹʷaɪ̯t]General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈbɹɐɪ̯t/[ˈbɹʷɐɪ̯t]
  1. Often followed by up: to cast light on (someone or something); to brighten, to illuminate.

    UK · dialectal · transitive
  2. Often followed by up: to cause (someone or something) to be bright (in various senses); to brighten; specifically, to make (someone or something) energetic, or happy and optimistic.

    UK · dialectal · figuratively · transitive
  3. Often followed by up: to become bright (in various senses); to brighten.

    UK · also · dialectal · figuratively · intransitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English brighten (“to illuminate; to become light, dawn; (figuratively) to cleanse, purify; to clarify, explain”) [and other forms], from Old English beorhtian (“to brighten, shine; to sound clearly or loudly”) [and other forms], probably from beorht (“bright, clear”, adjective) (see further at etymology 1) + -ian (suffix forming verbs from adjectives and nouns). Later uses of the word are probably also derived from the adjective.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.