different between luminous vs numinous

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French lumineus, from Latin l?min?sus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?lu?m?n?s/

Adjective

luminous (comparative more luminous, superlative most luminous)

1. Emitting light; glowing brightly.

   Synonyms: beamful, shining, radiant; see also Thesaurus:shining

   • 1924, Herman Melville, Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co., Chapter 11, [1]

     The bonfire in his heart made luminous the rose-tan in his cheek.

2. Brightly illuminated.

   Synonyms: lighted, lit up; see also Thesaurus:illuminated

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Derived terms

• luminosity

Related terms

• illuminate

Translations

English

Etymology

From Latin n?men (“nod of the head; divine sway or will; divinity”) +? -ous (“suffix forming adjectives from nouns, denoting possession or presence of a quality”). N?men is believed to derive either from Latin *nu? (“to nod”) or from Ancient Greek ????????? (nooúmenon, “influence perceptible by the mind but not the senses”) (ultimately from ???? (nóos, “mind; thought; purpose”)).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?nju?m?n?s/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?n(j)um?n?s/
• Hyphenation: nu?min?ous

Adjective

numinous (comparative more numinous, superlative most numinous)

1. Of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a divinity. [from mid 17th c.]
   • 1975, Saul Bellow, Humboldt's Gift [Avon ed., 1976, p. 40]:

     He held his own body in numinous esteem.
2. Evoking a sense of the mystical, sublime, or transcendent; awe-inspiring.

Derived terms

• numinosity
• numinously
• numinousness

Related terms

• numen
• numinal

Translations

Further reading

• numinous on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• numinous (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia