Library / English Dictionary

RADIATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having rays or ray-like parts as in the flower heads of daisies

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

compound (composed of more than one part)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Arranged like rays or radii; radiating from a common center

Example:

many cities show a radial pattern of main highways

Synonyms:

radial; radiate; stellate

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

symmetric; symmetrical (having similarity in size, shape, and relative position of corresponding parts)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Send out real or metaphoric rays

Example:

She radiates happiness

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "radiate" is one way to...):

breathe; emit; pass off (expel (gases or odors))

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sense 2

Meaning:

Spread into new habitats and produce variety or variegate

Example:

The plants on this island diversified

Synonyms:

diversify; radiate

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "radiate" is one way to...):

alter; change; vary (become different in some particular way, without permanently losing one's or its former characteristics or essence)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

radiation (the spread of a group of organisms into new habitats)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Issue or emerge in rays or waves

Example:

Heat radiated from the metal box

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "radiate" is one way to...):

come forth; come out; egress; emerge; go forth; issue (come out of)

Sentence frames:

Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

radiant (radiating or as if radiating light)

radiator (any object that radiates energy)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Experience a feeling of well-being or happiness, as from good health or an intense emotion

Example:

Her face radiated with happiness

Synonyms:

beam; glow; radiate; shine

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "radiate" is one way to...):

experience; feel (undergo an emotional sensation or be in a particular state of mind)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

radiance (an attractive combination of good health and happiness)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Cause to be seen by emitting light as if in rays

Example:

The sun is radiating

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Hypernyms (to "radiate" is one way to...):

cause to be perceived (have perceptible qualities)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "radiate"):

blink; flash; twinkle; wink; winkle (gleam or glow intermittently)

gleam; glimmer (shine brightly, like a star or a light)

glow (emit a steady even light without flames)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

radiance (the quality of being bright and sending out rays of light)

radiant (radiating or as if radiating light)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Have a complexion with a strong bright color, such as red or pink

Example:

Her face glowed when she came out of the sauna

Synonyms:

beam; glow; radiate; shine

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Hypernyms (to "radiate" is one way to...):

appear; look; seem (give a certain impression or have a certain outward aspect)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Sense 7

Meaning:

Extend or spread outward from a center or focus or inward towards a center

Example:

This plants radiate spines in all directions

Synonyms:

radiate; ray

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "radiate" is one way to...):

extend; go; lead; pass; run (stretch out over a distance, space, time, or scope; run or extend between two points or beyond a certain point)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

radiation (the act of spreading outward from a central source)

radiation (a radial arrangement of nerve fibers connecting different parts of the brain)

Sense 8

Meaning:

Send out rays or waves

Example:

The sun radiates heat

Classified under:

Verbs of raining, snowing, thawing, thundering

Hypernyms (to "radiate" is one way to...):

emit; give off; give out (give off, send forth, or discharge; as of light, heat, or radiation, vapor, etc.)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something ----s something

Derivation:

radiance; radiancy (the quality of being bright and sending out rays of light)

radiant (radiating or as if radiating light)

radiation (energy that is radiated or transmitted in the form of rays or waves or particles)

Credits

 Context examples: 

In front, amid radiating lines of poplars, lay the riverside townlet of Cardillac—gray walls, white houses, and a feather of blue smoke.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A sensation similar to an electrical shock radiating from the back of the head down the spine as the neck is bent forward.

(Lhermitte's sign, NCI Dictionary)

A ring of smooth muscle consisting of circular and radiating fibers within the middle layer of the eye.

(Ciliary Muscle, NCI Thesaurus)

Symptoms include burning pain and paresthesias involving the ventral surface of the hand and fingers which may radiate proximally.

(Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

The air above has to cool off, radiating its heat to space, before its density is greater than that of the hot, wet air below.

(Study Explains Saturn's Epic Tantrums, NASA)

Observing the same principle of widest distribution of weight, the dogs at the ends of their ropes radiated fan-fashion from the nose of the sled, so that no dog trod in another's footsteps.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

LRO's thermal radiometer, called Diviner, has taught scientists how much heat is radiating off the Moon’s surface, a critical factor in determining crater ages.

(Moon Data Sheds Light on Earth’s Asteroid Impact History, NASA)

All that energy radiates into space in every direction, and the tiny fraction that hits Earth makes life possible.

(Newest solar telescope produces first images, National Science Foundation)

As the dust heats up, it radiates infrared light.

(The Most Luminous Galaxy in Universe, NASA)

Along the way, this plasma somehow gets energized enough to strongly radiate light, forming two bright columns along the black hole’s axis of rotation.

(NuSTAR Probes Black Hole Jet Mystery, NASA)