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Discuss Email this Feedback RSS/XML Permalink A.Word.A.Day--noctilucent This week's theme: words made using combining forms. noctilucent (nok-tuh-LOO-suhnt) adjective Shining at night. [From Latin nocti- (night) + lucent (shining).] The term is often used of clouds that are luminous at night. Today's word in Visual Thesaurus. -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "The noctilucent paint is powerful enough to light up the entire 20-ft diameter of the pandal* without any light bulbs." Sangita Sultania G. Roy; Glow-worm Goddess for Shoestring Budget; The Telegraph (Calcutta, India); Oct 21, 2004. [* a temporary shed erected to hold an event] X-Bonus If someone does something we disapprove of, we regard him as bad if we believe we can deter him from persisting in his conduct, but we regard him as mad if we believe we cannot. -Thomas Szasz, author, professor of psychiatry (b. 1920)

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