Light vs Lightning - What's the difference?

As nouns the difference between light and lightning

is that light is the natural medium emanating from the Sun and other very hot sources (now recognised as electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength of 400-750 nm), within which vision is possible while lightning is a flash of light produced by short-duration, high-voltage discharge of electricity within a cloud, between clouds, or between a cloud and the earth.

As verbs the difference between light and lightning

is that light is to start (a fire) while lightning is to produce lightning.

As adjectives the difference between light and lightning

is that light is having light while lightning is extremely fast or sudden.

As an adverb light

is carrying little.

As a proper noun Light

is {{surname|lang=en}.

light

English

Alternative forms

* lite (informal); lyght, lyghte (obsolete) * (l) (Scotland)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), from (etyl) .

Noun

(wikipedia light) (en noun)

(uncountable) The natural medium emanating from the Sun and other very hot sources (now recognised as electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength of 400-750 nm), within which vision is possible.

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady. She stood for a moment holding her skirt above the grimy steps,

* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)

, chapter=3 citation , passage=Here the stripped panelling was warmly gold and the pictures, mostly of the English school, were mellow and gentle in the afternoon light .}}

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Out of the gloom , passage=[Rural solar plant] schemes are of little help to industry or other heavy users of electricity. Nor is solar power yet as cheap as the grid. For all that, the rapid arrival of electric light' to Indian villages is long overdue. When the national grid suffers its next huge outage, as it did in July 2012 when hundreds of millions were left in the dark, look for specks of ' light in the villages.}}

A source of illumination.

* , chapter=5

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights , […], the height and vastness of this noble fane, its antiquity and its strength—all these things seemed to have their part as causes of the thrilling emotion that accompanied his thoughts.}}

Spiritual or mental illumination; enlightenment, useful information.

* Shakespeare

He shall never know / That I had any light of this from thee.

Facts; pieces of information; ideas, concepts.

* , Book I, New York 2001, page 166:

Now these notions are twofold, actions or habits […], which are durable lights and notions, which we may use when we will.

A notable person within a specific field or discipline.

* Tennyson

Joan of Arc, a light of ancient France

(painting) The manner in which the light strikes a picture; that part of a picture which represents those objects upon which the light is supposed to fall; the more illuminated part of a landscape or other scene; opposed to shade .

A point of view, or aspect from which a concept, person or thing is regarded.

* South

Frequent consideration of a thing shows it in its several lights and various ways of appearance.

A flame or something used to create fire.

A firework made by filling a case with a substance which burns brilliantly with a white or coloured flame.

a Bengal light

A window, or space for a window in architecture.

The series of squares reserved for the answer to a crossword clue.

(informal) A cross-light in a double acrostic or triple acrostic.

Open view; a visible state or condition; public observation; publicity.

* Shakespeare

The duke yet would have dark deeds darkly answered; he would never bring them to light .

The power of perception by vision.

* Bible, Psalms xxxviii. 10

My strength faileth me; as for the light of my eyes, it also is gone from me.

The brightness of the eye or eyes.

* Shakespeare

He seemed to find his way without his eyes; / For out o'door he went without their helps, / And, to the last, bended their light on me.

A traffic light, or, by extension, an intersection controlled by one.

Synonyms

* (electromagnetic wave perceived by the eye) visible light

Derived terms

* ancient lights * black light * booklight * bring to light * come to light * fanlight * footlight * gaslight * half-light * headlight * hide one's light under a bushel * lamplight * light at the end of the tunnel * light box, lightbox * light bucket * light globe * Light of the World * lightbulb * lighthouse * ! * moonlight * nightlight * searchlight * see the light * skylight * spotlight * strike a light * sunlight * twilight * Very light * white light

Etymology 2

From (etyl) (m), (m), from (etyl) .

Verb

To start (a fire).

We lit the fire to get some heat.

To set fire to; to set burning; to kindle.

She lit her last match.

* Hakewill

if a thousand candles be all lighted from one

* Addison

Absence might cure it, or a second mistress / Light up another flame, and put out this.

To illuminate.

I used my torch to light the way home through the woods in the night.

* F. Harrison

One hundred years ago, to have lit' this theatre as brilliantly as it is now ' lighted would have cost, I suppose, fifty pounds.

* Dryden

The Sun has set, and Vesper, to supply / His absent beams, has lighted up the sky.

To become ignited; to take fire.

This soggy match will not light .

To attend or conduct with a light; to show the way to by means of a light.

* Landor

His bishops lead him forth, and light him on.

Synonyms

* ignite, kindle, conflagrate * (illuminate) illuminate, light up

Antonyms

* extinguish, put out, quench

Derived terms

* light someone's fire * light up * highlight

Etymology 3

From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), from (etyl) . Cognate with (etyl) (m), (etyl) (m).

Adjective

(er)

Having light.

Pale in colour.

, title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage='Twas early June, the new grass was flourishing everywheres, the posies in the yard—peonies and such—in full bloom, the Sun was shining, and the water of the bay was blue, with light green streaks where the shoal showed.}}

(of coffee) Served with extra milk or cream.

Synonyms

* (having light) bright * (pale in colour) pale * : white, with milk, with cream

Derived terms

* light-haired * light-skinned

Etymology 4

From (etyl) .

Adjective

(er)

Of low weight; not heavy.

My bag was much lighter once I had dropped off the books.

* Addison

These weights did not exert their natural gravity insomuch that I could not guess which was light or heavy whilst I held them in my hand.

Lightly-built; designed for speed or small loads.

We took a light aircraft down to the city.

(senseid)Gentle; having little force or momentum.

This artist clearly had a light , flowing touch.

Easy to endure or perform.

light duties around the house

* Dryden

Light sufferings give us leisure to complain.

Low in fat, calories, alcohol, salt, etc.

This light beer still gets you drunk if you have enough of it.

Unimportant, trivial, having little value or significance.

I made some light comment, and we moved on.

travelling with no carriages, wagons attached

(obsolete) Unchaste, wanton.

* 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , I.i:

Long after lay he musing at her mood, / Much grieu'd to thinke that gentle Dame so light , / For whose defence he was to shed his blood.

* Shakespeare

So do not you; for you are a light girl.

* Shakespeare

A light wife doth make a heavy husband.

Not heavily armed; armed with light weapons.

light''' troops; a troop of '''light horse

Not encumbered; unembarrassed; clear of impediments; hence, active; nimble; swift.

* Francis Bacon

Unmarried men are best friends, best masters but not always best subjects, for they are light to run away.

(dated) Easily influenced by trifling considerations; unsteady; unsettled; volatile.

a light''', vain person; a '''light mind

* Tillotson

There is no greater argument of a light and inconsiderate person than profanely to scoff at religion.

Indulging in, or inclined to, levity; lacking dignity or solemnity; frivolous; airy.

* Shakespeare

Seneca can not be too heavy, nor Plautus too light .

* Hawthorne

specimens of New England humour laboriously light and lamentably mirthful

Not quite sound or normal; somewhat impaired or deranged; dizzy; giddy.

* Shakespeare

Are his wits safe? Is he not light of brain?

Not of the legal, standard, or usual weight; clipped; diminished.

light coin

Synonyms

* (of low weight) * (lightly-built) lightweight * (having little force or momentum) delicate, gentle, soft * lite, lo-cal (low in calories), low-alcohol (low in alcohol) * (having little value or significance) inconsequential, trivial, unimportant

Antonyms

* (of low weight) heavy, weighty * (lightly-built) cumbersome, heavyweight, massive * (having little force or momentum) forceful, heavy, strong * calorific (high in calories), fatty (high in fat), strong (high in alcohol) * (having little value or significance) crucial, important, weighty

Derived terms

* light as a feather * lightness

Adverb

(er)

Carrying little.

I prefer to travel light.

Noun

(en noun)

(curling) A stone that is not thrown hard enough.

Verb

(en verb)

(nautical) To unload a ship, or to jettison material to make it lighter

To lighten; to ease of a burden; to take off.

* Spenser

His mailèd habergeon she did undight, / And from his head his heavy burgonet did light .

Derived terms

* lighter

Etymology 5

(etyl)

Verb

To find by chance.

I lit upon a rare book in a second-hand bookseller's.

(archaic) To alight.

She fell out of the window but luckily lit on her feet.

Synonyms

* (find by chance) chance upon, come upon, find, happen upon, hit upon * (alight) alight, land

Derived terms

* light into * light out

Statistics

* English terms with multiple etymologies 1000 English basic words ----

lightning

English

(wikipedia lightning) (wikiversity lightning lecture)

Noun

(en-noun)

A flash of light produced by short-duration, high-voltage discharge of electricity within a cloud, between clouds, or between a cloud and the earth.

Although we did not see the lightning , we did hear the thunder.

* 1901 , E. L. Morris, The Child's Eden , page 16:

It was the thought of hot July and August days, when the clouds piled up like woolly mountains, and lightnings streaked the sky.

A discharge of this kind.

The lightning was hot enough to melt the sand.

That tree was hit by lightning .

* 1881 , Daniel Pierce Thompson, The Green Mountain Boys , page 281:

The rain at length ceased; and the lightnings , as they played along the black parapet of clouds, that lay piled in the east, shone with less dazzling fierceness,

(figuratively) Anything that moves very fast.

* 1918 , (Edgar Rice Burroughs), , chapter V:

Nobs, though, was lightning by comparison with the slow thinking beast and dodged his opponent's thrust with ease. Then he raced to the rear of the tremendous thing and seized it by the tail.

The act of making bright, or the state of being made bright; enlightenment; brightening, as of the mental powers.

(Webster 1913)

Quotations

* 2008 , Kathy Clark, Stand By Your Man , page 280: *: Manny drove a few miles per hour under the speed limit, entranced by the awesome display of lightning streaking out of the clouds toward earth.

Derived terms

* ball lightning * Jewish lightning * greased lightning * lightning bug * lightning bolt * lightning conductor * lightning detector * lightning in a bottle * lightning rod * sheet lightning * upward lightning

Coordinate terms

* thunderbolt

Adjective

(-)

Extremely fast or sudden.

Moving at the speed of lightning.

Verb

(en verb)

(impersonal, childish, or, nonstandard) To produce lightning.

* 1916 , Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Understood Betsy

Or if it thundered and lightninged , Aunt Frances always dropped everything she might be doing and held Elizabeth Ann tightly in her arms until it was all over.

* 1968 , Dan Greenburg, Chewsday: a sex novel

The next day, though it is not only raining but thundering and lightninging as well, antiquing is seen by three-fourths of those present as a lesser evil than free play.

* 1987 , Tricia Springstubb, Eunice Gottlieb and the unwhitewashed truth about life

"Hey!" yelled Reggie, pulling her back. "Get in here! It's lightninging . I don't want a charcoal-broiled friend!"

* 1988 , Carlo Collodi, Roberto Innocenti, The adventures of Pinocchio

I don't know, Father, but believe me, it has been a horrible night — one that I'll never forget. It thundered and lightninged , and I was very hungry.

Usage notes

* bolt, flash, strike are some of the words used to count lightning. * The standard, but rare, verb for "lightning occurs" is lighten, used only in the impersonal form "it lightens", or as "it’s lightening".