How to Use fluoresce in a Sentence

fluoresce

verb
  • The shortest fullertubes don’t fluoresce, but the longer ones show signs of it.
    — James R. Riordon, Quanta Magazine, 20 Dec. 2022
  • Even the skin on their feet and the insides of their mouths would fluoresce in blue and UV light.
    — Elizabeth Rayne, Ars Technica, 23 Feb. 2025
  • And at that point, the solution can fluoresce so much that it can be detected.
    — Andy Larsen, The Salt Lake Tribune, 9 Aug. 2020
  • Smaller species are more likely to fluoresce than larger ones.
    — Smithsonian, 25 July 2019
  • The copies are cleverly designed to fluoresce when they’re formed.
    — Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 18 Aug. 2020
  • Just two days after the treatment, the lung tissue started to fluoresce.
    — John Timmer, Ars Technica, 13 June 2024
  • Those echoes will fluoresce in different ways depending on the atoms present in the sample.
    — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 22 Aug. 2019
  • The quinine in tonic water will fluoresce a bright blue, as will the darkest spots on an overripe banana.
    — Helen Czerski, WSJ, 24 May 2018
  • Deadly fish known for their spikes and venom may pack a newfound weapon — switchblades on their faces, some of which can fluoresce green, a new study finds.
    — Charles Choi, Discover Magazine, 13 Apr. 2018
  • But knowing a tiny amphibian might shine green among leaves that fluoresce red in blue light, could make surveys much easier.
    — Joanna Klein, New York Times, 27 Feb. 2020
  • Some of the many mammals reported to fluoresce by the study include rabbits, squirrels, and dormice.
    — Gabrielle Rockson, Peoplemag, 5 Oct. 2023
  • Glowing might also play a role in helping the sharks find mates, since males and females fluoresce in different patterns.
    — Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 7 Aug. 2023
  • Those instruments measure how rocks fluoresce, absorb and reflect light when they are hit with different lasers.
    — Derek Smith, Scientific American, 17 Apr. 2023
  • The mechanism rests on the fact that this cluster can fluoresce with a spectrum that consists of three colors — a central peak plus two fainter side-peaks.
    — The Physics Arxiv Blog, Discover Magazine, 30 June 2021
  • Stewart and his colleagues reckon that an amino acid like phenylalanine, which is released from a dead body, could cause leaves to fluoresce in a distinct way.
    — Matt Simon, Wired, 3 Sep. 2020
  • Precise control over the firing of these lasers can single out which specific nanometer-scale spot ends up fluorescing.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 23 Feb. 2024
  • This molecule, made of two carbon atoms bonded together, is known to fluoresce a green glow when energized by sunlight.
    — Kenna Hughes-Castleberry, Space.com, 15 Sep. 2025
  • After all, human teeth fluoresce under ultraviolet light, but that doesn’t seem to help us in any measurable way.
    — Jason Bittel, New York Times, 12 Feb. 2025
  • Corals, too, can fluoresce very prettily in a wide range of hues, and the proteins that cause this are in the same family as GFP.
    — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 8 Aug. 2019
  • Kayes and company will be taking his lasers underwater in early 2017 to fluoresce the sea life of coral reefs.
    — Jon Tennant, Discover Magazine, 20 Dec. 2016
  • This caused the structure to fluoresce differently when a laser was trained on it, emitting near-infrared radiation that was picked up by a camera nearby.
    — Nathaniel Scharping, Discover Magazine, 2 Nov. 2016
  • As a control, Rober uses a blacklight to note which spots fluoresced before the students (who didn't know about the experiment) arrived.
    — Isabel Garcia, House Beautiful, 26 Mar. 2020
  • As this glow washes over nearby rocks, the elements within them will fluoresce, letting Pragyaan see their chemical makeup.
    — Michael Greshko, National Geographic, 22 July 2019
  • To find out just how many species of these birds fluoresce, Martin screened specimens of adult males and females in a dark room by shining blue and ultraviolet light on them.
    — Elizabeth Rayne, Ars Technica, 23 Feb. 2025
  • Not every chameleon possesses the ability to fluoresce visibly, though.
    — Nathaniel Scharping, Discover Magazine, 18 Jan. 2018
  • In some cases, using a different technique, the cells can also be made to fluoresce under a light source, allowing a researcher with a microscope to watch the brain at work.
    — Adam Rogers, Wired, 24 Nov. 2021
  • It's long been known that bones fluoresce under ultraviolet light, some researchers have even used the property to find fossils, but our bones are usually all covered up.
    — Nathaniel Scharping, Discover Magazine, 18 Jan. 2018
  • Imagine a softly glowing world, inhabited by a multitude of species that fluoresce in response to their star’s violent outbursts.
    — National Geographic, 24 Aug. 2016
  • Another species, a deep-sea scarlet frogfish, fluoresce in a way that matches the surroundings, suggesting that it may be used for camouflage, researchers said.
    — Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 13 June 2024
  • The property was most common and intense in mammals living on land, underground or in trees, according to the study, though aquatic and flying mammals fluoresced as well.
    — Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 10 Oct. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fluoresce.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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