different between luminary vs liminary

English

Etymology

From Late Middle English l?min?r?, l?min?r?e (“lamp; source of spiritual light, example of holiness; glory”), borrowed from Old French luminarie (“lamp, lights, lighting; candles; brightness, illumination”), variant of luminaire (“light fixture”) (modern French luminaire), from Medieval Latin l?min?rium, from l?min?re (“that which gives light; light; lamp; body giving light, especially a heavenly body”), from l?men (“light; brightness”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“bright; to shine”)) + -?ris (“suffix forming adjectives indicating a relationship or a pertaining to”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?lu?m?n(?)?i/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?lum??n??i/
• Hyphenation: lu?min?a?ry

Noun

luminary (plural luminaries)

1. One who is an inspiration to others; one who has achieved success in their chosen field; a leading light.
2. (archaic) A body that gives light; especially, one of the heavenly bodies.
3. (archaic) An artificial light; an illumination.

Synonyms

• (one who is an inspiration to others): guiding light

Related terms

Translations

References

Further reading

• luminary (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• luminary in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• luminary in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

English

Adjective

liminary (comparative more liminary, superlative most liminary)

1. (obsolete) introductory or preparatory

References

• OED 2nd edition 1989