luminaries

noun

plural of luminary
1
as in stars
a ball-shaped gaseous celestial body that shines by its own light awed by the vast number of luminaries in the night sky

Synonyms & Similar Words

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2
as in celebrities
a person who is widely known and usually much talked about luminaries from the worlds of sports, entertainment, and politics were at the gala

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of luminaries The Music, Fashion, Film artwork features the luminaries John Cale, Marc Jacobs and Martin Scorsese. — Eric Renner Brown, Billboard, 2 Oct. 2026 The 40th edition of the festival will screen 157 films across five red-carpet premieres, 12 special screenings, 13 luminaries selections, 18 discovery titles, 16 world cinema selections, 17 documentaries and many more. — Isabelle Farina, Variety, 29 Sep. 2026 That event also included many tech luminaries, such as Tim Cook, formerly Apple’s CEO, and Musk. — Will Weissert, Chicago Tribune, 25 Sep. 2026 Upstairs at the Van Dyke, as it was known, drew jazz luminaries like Freddy Cole (Natalie’s uncle), Toots Thielemans, Randy Brecker and Branford Marsalis. — Howard Cohen, Miami Herald, 18 Sep. 2026 With Walker and Gibson among this motoring segment’s luminaries, that’s already a given. — Viju Mathew, Robb Report, 16 Sep. 2026 Witchy and worldly, with a tendency to name-drop the luminaries she’s encountered on her travels, the grande dame is Sybylla’s first example of a woman who chose her own way and has been rewarded for it. — Inkoo Kang, New Yorker, 10 Sep. 2026 Burning Man, the week-long festival that takes place in the middle of the Nevada desert and draws many luminaries from the tech industry, prides itself on building community. — Victor Tangermann, Futurism, 9 Sep. 2026 Once Upon a Time in Harlem In 1972, documentarian William Greaves brought together the surviving luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance for a shindig at Duke Ellington’s house. — A.a. Dowd, Vulture, 8 Sep. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for luminaries
  1. stars
  2. celebrities
  3. galaxies
  4. personalities
  5. suns
  6. figures
  7. clusters
  8. dignitaries
Noun
  • The report singles out Japan, women’s competitions and homegrown stars as the areas most likely to draw competing bids.
    — Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 9 Oct. 2026
  • Eight years after Crazy Rich Asians made history as the first film by a major Hollywood studio to feature an all-Asian cast, the movie’s stars are reprising their roles for a series heading to HBO.
    — Charisma Madarang, Rolling Stone, 9 Oct. 2026
Definition of stars
Noun
  • For all of this and more, multi-generational families, married couples celebrating milestone anniversaries, and celebrities looking for privacy and discretion flock here.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 6 Oct. 2026
  • Chaos unfolds as 24 celebrities head to a lakeside cabin to compete in a lineup of bonkers challenges.
    — Leo Barraclough, Variety, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of celebrities
Noun
  • The Nobel committee said his work was instrumental to the construction of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica, which glimpsed the first high-energy neutrinos from faraway galaxies.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 7 Oct. 2026
  • Halzen’s idea to use Antarctic ice as a giant detector helped create the IceCube observatory, which has captured high-energy neutrinos from distant galaxies and opened a new form of astronomy.
    — Kostya Manenkov, Los Angeles Times, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of galaxies
Noun
  • The film comes amidst an onslaught of new movies, both narrative and documentary, centered on tech personalities.
    — Pete Hammond, Deadline, 5 Oct. 2026
  • How much of your actual personalities is in these characters?
    — Kimberly Nordyke, HollywoodReporter, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of personalities
Noun
  • Reportedly, the finished cell retained over 90% of its initial efficiency after 569 hours of continuous, maximum-power operation under simulated suns.
    — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 28 Sep. 2026
  • And this image has no shortage of suns, with twinkling stars speckling the entire cosmic landscape, diffraction spikes and all.
    — Chelsea Gohd, Space.com, 16 Sep. 2026
Definition of suns
Noun
  • The Justice Department also says Beijing is determined to sway American public opinion in its favor by cultivating relationships with political figures seen as having access to the levers of power.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 6 Oct. 2026
  • Forty-five percent of adults 30 to 44 say the same; both figures have declined in the years since the COVID-19 pandemic.
    — Eleanor Mueller, semafor.com, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of figures
Noun
  • Using data from powerful telescopes, the show will send you zooming through space with images of star clusters, black holes and much more.
    — Jennifer Day, Chicago Tribune, 1 Oct. 2026
  • Instead, several particles stick together and form larger clusters before sulfuric acid condenses around them.
    — Elizabeth Rayne, ArsTechnica, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of clusters
Noun
  • By the late 1800s, the resort was a favorite destination for US Presidents (23 presidents have visited the property), foreign dignitaries and global business leaders.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 6 Oct. 2026
  • The pop-up was up for three days to coincide with United Nations general assembly meeting, which saw the convergence of world leaders, dignitaries and CEOs on the city.
    — Katie Kilkenny, HollywoodReporter, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of dignitaries

Browse Nearby Words

luminance
luminaries
luminary
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Cite this Entry

“Luminaries.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/luminaries. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.

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