TRANSLUCENT

translucent, semitransparent

(adjective) allowing light to pass through diffusely; “translucent amber”; “semitransparent curtains at the windows”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Adjective

translucent (comparative more translucent, superlative most translucent)

Allowing light to pass through, but diffusing it.

Clear, lucid, or transparent.

Coordinate terms

• opaque

• transparent

Source: Wiktionary


Trans*lu"cent, a. Etym: [L. translucens, -entis, p. pr. of translucere to shine through; trans across, through = lucere to shine. See Lucid.]

1. Transmitting rays of light without permitting objects to be distinctly seen; partially transparent.

2. Transparent; clear. [Poetic] "Fountain or fresh current . . . translucent, pure." Milton. Replenished from the cool, translucent springs. Pope.

Syn.

– Translucent, Transparent. A thing is translucent when it merely admits the passage of light, without enabling us to distinguish the color and outline of objects through it; it is transparent when we can clearly discern objects placed on the other side of it. Glass, water, etc., are transparent; ground glass is translucent; a translucent style.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

4 April 2025

GUILLOTINE

(verb) kill by cutting the head off with a guillotine; “The French guillotined many Vietnamese while they occupied the country”


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Coffee Trivia

Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.

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