Definition of "iridescence" [ir•i•des•cence]

• The quality or state of being iridescent. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "This is what we call iridescence without illumination."
• "The colors are caused by a phenomenon called iridescence, in which light is scattered by the laminated platelets on the feathers."
• "There's no sham there; no deception -- except the iridescence, which is, as you doubtless know, an optical illusion attributable to the intervention of rays of light reflected from microscopic corrugations of the nacreous surface."