bright S2 W2 /braɪt/ BrE AmE adjective ( comparative brighter , superlative brightest )
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: beorht ]
1 . LIGHT shining strongly, or with plenty of light:
Her eyes were hurting from the bright lights.
bright sunshine
a large bright room
2 . SUNNY if the weather is bright, the sun is shining and there is a lot of light OPP dull :
The weather was bright and sunny.
a bright autumn day
3 . INTELLIGENT intelligent and able to learn things quickly:
He was an exceptionally bright child.
a bright ambitious young man
4 . a bright idea a very good idea – sometimes used ironically (IRONIC) :
Whose bright idea was this?
He is constantly coming up with bright ideas for making money.
5 . COLOURS bright colours are strong and easy to see:
a bright red jumper
I never wear bright colours.
6 . CHEERFUL happy and full of energy:
Her voice was bright and cheerful.
She gave him a bright smile.
He looked up at me with bright eyes.
7 . SUCCESSFUL if the future looks bright, you think that something will be successful SYN promising :
The school’s future now looks very bright.
I’m sure the company has a bright future now.
8 . as bright as a button very intelligent and full of energy
9 . look on the bright side to see the good points in a situation that seems to be bad:
Come on, try to look on the bright side.
10 . bright and early very early in the morning:
He was up bright and early, keen to get started.
11 . bright spark informal someone who says or does something that they think is intelligent but is really wrong or stupid:
Some bright spark thought the building was on fire and called the fire brigade.
12 . bright and breezy happy and confident
13 . bright-eyed and bushy-tailed happy and full of energy
14 . the bright lights the interesting exciting life in a big city:
She missed the bright lights of London.
15 . bright spot an event or a period of time that is more pleasant when everything else is unpleasant:
The only bright spot of the weekend was our trip to the theatre.
—brightly adverb :
The sun shone brightly.
brightly coloured clothes
She smiled brightly.
—brightness noun [uncountable]
• • •
THESAURUS
■ a bright light
▪ bright shining strongly:
The sunshine was very bright.
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the bright light of the torch
▪ strong very bright:
Photographs fade if they are exposed to strong sunlight.
▪ brilliant extremely bright, especially in a way that seems good:
The garden was full of brilliant autumn sunshine.
▪ dazzling a dazzling light is so bright that it hurts your eyes and you cannot look at it:
dazzling headlights
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the dazzling reflection from the mirror
▪ blinding a blinding light is very bright and makes you unable to see for a short time after you have looked at it:
There was a sudden blinding light, followed by the sound of a huge explosion.
▪ harsh a harsh light is bright and unpleasant:
In the harsh light of the kitchen, she looked older than she was.
▪ good if the light is good in a place where you are working, it is bright enough for you to see what you are doing:
The light wasn’t good enough to read.
■ a bright place
▪ bright full of light:
I wish the room was a bit brighter.
▪ light bright because there are big windows:
The dining room was light and airy.
▪ well-lit bright because there are plenty of electric lights:
Try to park in a well-lit place.