rayonnementn.
/ˈreɪɒnˌmɒ̃/, U.S. /ˌreɪɑnˈmɑn(t)/ Radiant beauty or splendour; lustre. In later use figurative: influence, esp. cultural or intellectual; (cultural) diffusion.Chiefly in French contexts or in translations from French.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > extension in space > spreading or diffusion > [noun] > specifically of immaterial things
dilatation1448
propagation1531
dilating1532
enlargement1607
dilationa1631
radiationa1631
dispreadinga1652
factorship1697
rayonnement1910
haemorrhaging1967
the mind > attention and judgement > beauty > splendour > [noun] > radiance or brilliance
gleamOE
gleec1440
blaze1578
radiancea1593
radiancy1595
lustre1602
prefulgency1660
brilliance1755
rayonnement1910
1910 W. Lewis Lett. (1963) 45 The benevolence and rayonnement that is the sign and beauty of a fine nature shines on faults without hiding them.
1927 C. Bayly tr. G. de Pourtalhs Polonaise vii. 92 Chopin let himself float in the sensual rayonnement of this beautiful animal of love.
1953 R. Z. Temple Critic's Alchemy iii. iv. 169 The influence on Yeats, even at second hand, is one more example of the rayonnement of Mallarmé as artist, theorist, and person.
1970 R. Rudorff Myth of France vii. 153 French culture may have radiated at various times from Paris throughout the world, but of cultural rayonnement in the provinces there was precious little.
2002 Financial Times (Nexis) 7 Jan. 10 Few cared to see a longstanding government policy designed to promote France's capacity for rayonnement or worldwide cultural influence so unceremoniously dismissed.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1910