luminaries

nounvery important person

Word Origin & History

mid-15c., "lamp, source of (artificial) light," from Old French luminarie (12c.), "lamp, lights, lighting; candles; brightness, illumination," from Late Latin luminare "light, torch, lamp, heavenly body," literally "that which gives light," from Latin lumen (genitive luminis) "light," related to lucere "to shine" (see light (n.)). Sense of "notable person" is first recorded 1690s, though the Middle English word also had a figurative sense of "source of spiritual light, example of holiness."

Example Sentences for luminaries

But beside it the two luminaries of his own world were as pygmies.

Yet these men were luminaries for the day that brought them forth.

The same if either of the luminaries be exactly on the equinoxes.

In no other country is the wanderer brought so close, as it were, to the luminaries of night.

He there instructed Carlone and Strozzi, two luminaries of this school.

Both these luminaries seem larger at the horizon than they are at the zenith.

Then God said, "Let light be;" he now says, "Let luminaries or light-bearers be."

Bossuet I hold to be one of the first luminaries of religion and literature.

There was another, among the luminaries who flourished "betwixt the sixth and sixteenth centuries," named Rabalais.

They were judges and luminaries of the bar--but who should be the center of the galaxy but the uncouth fellow traveler!

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Synonyms for luminaries

noun very important person

Antonyms for luminaries

nobody