Luster

/ˈlʌstɚ/ · noun

Meaning

The ability or condition of shining with reflected light; sheen, gleam, gloss, sparkle, shine, etc..

Definitions by Sense

1. The ability or condition of shining with reflected light; sheen, gleam, gloss, sparkle, shine, etc.
2. (figurative) Shining light from within, luminosity, brightness, shine.
3. (figurative) Shining beauty, splendor, attractiveness or attraction.
4. (figurative) Shining fame, renown, glory.
5. (figurative) Polish, social refinement.
6. A thing exhibiting luster, particularly
7. (intransitive, now rare) To have luster, to gleam, to shine.
8. (intransitive, now rare) To gain luster, to become lustrous.

Example Sentences

metallic luster

pearly luster

the diamond’s luster

2001, James Wood, Introduction to Saul Bellow, Collected Stories, New York: Viking, p. xvii, Curiously enough, the stream of consciousness, for all its reputation as the great accelerator of description, actually slows down realism, asks it to dawdle over tiny remembrances, tiny details and lusters, to circle and return.

And over all the fields themselves did muster, With bils and glayves making a dreadfull luster; That forst at first those knights backe to retyre: As when the wrathfull Boreas doth bluster, Nought may abide the tempest of his yre, Both man and beast doe fly, and succour doe inquyre.

First Servant: O, I am slain! My lord, you have one eye left To see some mischief on him. O! [Dies] Cornwall: Lest it see more, prevent it. Out, vile jelly! Where is thy lustre now? Gloucester: All dark and comfortless.

Daughters of Beulah! Muses who inspire the Poet’s Song! Record the journey of immortal Milton through your realms Of terror & mild moony lustre, in soft sexual delusions Of varied beauty, to delight the wanderer and repose His burning thirst & freezing hunger! […]

The canopy above the bed was a mosaic of tiny stones, jet, serpentine, dark hyacinth, black marble, bloodstone, and lapis lazuli, so confounded in a maze of altering hue and lustre that they might mock the palpitating sky of night.

Synonyms for luster

Antonyms for luster

Related Words

Word Forms

• lusters
• lustre
• lustering
• lustered

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

Practice and Learn More

Frequently Asked Questions