Bright or Brilliant?

Hello and welcome to Fransy Fancy English! A lot of my students confuse these two words. Let's clarify them! Both these words can be used instead of "smart". They can also be used with colours, but there are some differences.

BRIGHT

When something is bright, it is full of light. It can be a bright and sunny day, a bright room if it's well-lit or we can talk about the bright sky. 

"Keep the plant in bright light." 

"Pupils contract in bright light, and dilate in darkness."

"He blinked as he walked out into the bright sunshine."

"Let's sit out in the bright sunshine."

You can use both brilliant and bright to describe colours which are strong and easy to see, but the adjective bright is more common in this case.

"The walls have been painted bright yellow."

"Her bright clothes were not appropriate for a funeral."

"The sky was a brilliant blue."

"She was wearing a bright red dress."

"We sat there watching the brilliant orange of the setting sun."

The word bright describes young people who are good at learning, intelligent. You can talk about bright boys/girls/students/pupils/kids/children.

"I've got two bright students, but the rest are average."

"He was an exceptionally bright child."

BRILLIANT

Something brilliant is super bright like the brilliant lights of a stadium or stage. 

"A fully cut brilliant diamond has 68 facets.

"The event was held in brilliant sunshine."

How do Americans describe something they really like? They say "Awesome!" British people say "Brilliant" and they are talking about something which is really good!

A: "How was it?" 

B: "Brilliant!"

"She's brilliant at handling difficult clients."

"He is brilliant at maths."

When a person or an idea is extrem

ely clever or skillful we can use the adjective brilliant to describe how impressive it is.

"Her mother was a brilliant scientist."

"What a brilliant idea!"

"I was captivated by her brilliant mind."

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