fluorescent

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   emitting visible or other electromagnetic radiation while excited by absorbed radiation or energetic particles, with the emission usually ending almost at once when excitation stops

   The fluorescent screen flashed wherever an alpha particle struck it.

2. 2
   adj

   strikingly vivid and bright in color, as if giving off light

   Cyclists wore fluorescent yellow jackets so that drivers could see them easily.

3. 3
   noun

   a fluorescent lamp or lighting fixture

   The maintenance crew replaced the flickering fluorescent above the workbench.

Formed in 1853 from fluorescence + -ent. George Gabriel Stokes coined fluorescence in 1852 from fluorspar (fluorite) on the model of opalescence. Fluorite ultimately takes its name from Latin fluere ("to flow") because the mineral was used as a flux.

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